David Acheson
(Oxford)
"Instability of Vortex Leapfrogging"
Abstract
Fiona Adamson
(Birmingham)
"Propagating reaction fronts in zirconia tubes"
Abstract
Mehrdad Ahmadzadeh-Raji
(Exeter)
"Higher power residue codes and unimodular lattices"
Abstract
Andreas Aigner
(Bristol)
"The non-integrable coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations"
Abstract
Mark Ainsworth
(Strathclyde)
"hp-Edge finite element for approximation of solutions
of Maxwell's equations"
Abstract
Ma'an Al-Azhari
(Manchester)
"Bifurcations in the flow between two infinite parallel planes"
Abstract
Svetlana Aleksandrova
(Coventry University)
"Buoyant convection in cavities in a strong magnetic field"
Abstract
Bjorn Andersen
(Coventry University)
"Horizontal girders"
Abstract
Peter Ashwin
(Exeter)
"Invariant curves for planar piecewise isometries"
Abstract
Elena Babenkova
(Manchester)
"A low-frequency analogue of the Saint-Venant principle for an elastic
semi-strip"
Abstract
Rahman Bahmani-Sangsari
(Exeter)
"On the matrix type of a ring "
Abstract
Mirza F Baig
(Southampton)
"Quasi-2d decaying turbulence in channel flow"
Abstract
Stephen Baigent
(UCL)
"Modelling ion and solute transport in the eye lens"
Abstract
Keith Ball
(UCL)
"Entropy jumps in the presence of a spectral gap"
Abstract
Robert Beardmore
(IC, London)
"Bifurcations in Differential-Algebraic Equations"
Abstract
Jeroen Bergamin
(Warwick)
"Homoclinic orbits of invertible maps"
Abstract
Vadim Biktashev
(Liverpool)
"On the mechanisms of propagation failure in biological excitable systems"
Abstract
Joan Birman
(Columbia)
"Recognizing the unknot"
Abstract
Laura Biven
(Warwick)
"Intermittency in weak turbulence"
Abstract
John Blake
(Birmingham)
"Micro-fluidics: there's plenty of room at the bottom(1) for fluid
dynamicists!"
Abstract
Mark Blyth
(IC, London)
"Chaotic flow in a pulsating pipe"
Abstract
Colin Bolton
(Nottingham)
Poster for Micromechanics of solids:
"General Becker & Doering equations: effect of dimer interactions"
Abstract
Poster for Mathematical biology 2:
"The matrix effect in vesicle formation; a theoretical approach"
Abstract
Graeme Boswell
(Dundee)
"Modelling fungal growth in patchy environments: Derivation,
calibration and solution"
Abstract
Richard Braun
(Southampton)
"The rupture of a thin film on a horizontal plate"
Abstract
Chris Breward
(Oxford)
"Mathematical modelling of surfactant driven flows"
Abstract
David Broomhead
(UMIST)
"Fractals and Morse Code"
Abstract
Robert Buckingham
(East Anglia)
"Receptivity of boundary-layers to vortical disturbances"
Abstract
Chris Budd
(Bath)
"Visions of maths and science"
Abstract
Manuela Bujorianu
(Stirling)
"A Product of Dirichlet Spaces"
Abstract
Robin Bullough
(UMIST)
"Classical and quantum nonlinear Schroedinger equations"
Abstract
David Bundy
(UMIST)
"Commuting Involution Graphs"
Abstract
Paul Busch
(Hull)
"Relativistic localisation and causality for unsharp quantum measurements"
Abstract
Rachel Camina
(Cambridge)
"Linearity of pro-p groups"
Abstract
Graham Capps
(Newcastle)
"A Model of the Development of cytochrome c oxidase negative regions
in muscle fibres"
Abstract
Poster:
"A model of the nuclear control of mitochondrial DNA replication"
Abstract
Jack Carr
(Heriot-Watt)
"Spatial pattern formation in a model of vegetation growth"
Abstract
Nuno Catarino
(Warwick)
"A Renormalization approach for the quantum Frenkel-Kontorova model"
Abstract
Alan Champneys
(Bristol)
"Non-local bifurcation of solitary waves for coupled nonlinear
Schrodinger-type equations"
Abstract
Jonathan Chapman (Oxford)
"Subcritical transition in channel flows"
Abstract
Arthur Chatters
(Bristol)
"Semi-prime Noetherian rings of injective dimension one"
Abstract
Yi-Chiuan Chen
(Cambridge)
"An application of anti-integrability theory to billiards"
Abstract
Kirill Cherednichenko
(Oxford)
"New developments on non-local homogenised constitutive relations for
periodic composite media"
Abstract
Edward Codling
(Leeds)
"Calculating spatial statistics of biased and correlated random walks"
Abstract
Paul Cohn
(UCL)
"Non-commutative localization"
Abstract
Steven Cole
(Exeter)
"Nonlinear models of rotating spherical convection"
Abstract
Mark Cooker
(East Anglia)
"Computing Violent Water-Wave Impact"
Abstract
Fenwick Cooper
(Warwick)
"Evolution of Benjamin-Ono auto-solitons"
Abstract
Emily Cox
(Birmingham)
"The close interaction of underwater seismic airgun bubbles"
Abstract
Stephen Cox
(Nottingham)
"Instability and localisation of patterns under the influence of a conserved quantity"
Abstract
William Crawley-Boevey
(Leeds)
"Representations of algebras, vector bundles with parabolic structure
and monodromy"
Abstract
Darren Crowdy
(IC, London)
"Exact solutions for two bubbles in a 4-roller mill"
Abstract
Julie Crossley
(Nottingham)
"Elastic deformations of helically wound composite cables"
Abstract
Linda Cummings
(Nottingham)
"The effect of ureteric stents on urine flow"
Abstract
Robert T Curtis
(Birmingham)
"Using monomial modular representations to construct pre-images of
sporadic groups"
Abstract
Garth Dales
(Leeds)
"The amenability of measure algebras"
Abstract
Jessica Dalton
(Exeter)
"Renormalisation for the Harper Equation for quadratic
irrationals"
Abstract
Remi Daou
(UMIST)
"Effect of Volumetric heat-loss on triple flame propapagation"
Abstract
Ingrid Daubechies
(Princeton)
"Wavelets and their applications"
Abstract
EB Davies
(KC London)
"Spectral properties of random non-selfadjoint matrices and operators"
Abstract
Stephen Decent
(Birmingham)
"Spiralling viscous jets"
Abstract
Patrick Dehornoy
(Caen)
"From Set Theory to Braids via Self-Distributive Algebra"
Abstract
Ignacio De Gregorio
(Warwick)
"F-manifold structure on the base space of the miniversal deformation of a
function on space curve"
Abstract
Anton Deitmar
(Exeter)
"Lefschetz formulae, trace formulae, and zeta functions"
Abstract
Rob de Jeu
(Durham)
"K-theory, regulators and L-functions for curves over number fields"
Abstract
Gianne Derks
(Surrey)
"Multi-symplectic systems, symmetry and stability"
Abstract
Carl Dettmann
(Bristol)
"Recent developments in periodic orbit theory"
Abstract
Persi Diaconis
(Stanford)
"The Search for Randomness"
Abstract
Detta Dickinson
(Maynouth, Eire)
"Diophantine approximation on manifolds"
Abstract
Charles Doering
(Ann Arbor)
"Energy dissipation in body-forced turbulence"
Abstract
Robert Douglas
(Aberystwyth)
"Polar factorisation: existence and applications"
Abstract
Fay Dowker
(QMW, London)
"The deep quantum structure of spacetime"
Abstract
Yuting Duan
(Loughborough)
"Embedded trapped modes near an indentation in a strip wave-guide"
Abstract
Iain Duff
(Rutherford Appleton Lab)
"Preconditioning for numerical solution of BE problems"
Abstract
Emanuel Dufraine
(Dijon)
"About isotopy classes of non-singular vector fields on the
three-sphere"
Abstract
Holger Dullin
(Loughborough)
"Hyperbolic Hamiltonian Monodromy"
Abstract
Martin Dunwoody
(Southampton)
"A proof of the Poincare conjecture"
Abstract
Ian Eames
(UCL)
"Dynamics of monopolar vortices on the beta plane"
Abstract
Paul Earnshaw
(Exeter)
"Application of double Fourier series to high order differential
equations in MHD"
Abstract
Gennady El
(Coventry University)
"Stochastic Solitons in Integrable Systems"
Abstract
Baris Erbas
(Manchester)
"Scattering of sound waves by an infinite grating composed of equally
spaced rigid walls"
Abstract
Eivind Eriksen
(Warwick)
"Extensions of extensions in module categories"
Abstract
Kambiz Farahmand
(Ulster)
"Random polynomials: an overview"
Abstract
Adrian Farcas
(Leeds)
"The dual reciprocity boundary element method for inverse problems of the Poisson equation"
Abstract
Sergei Fedotov
(UMIST)
"Memory effect in turbulent dynamo"
Abstract
Daniel Feltham
(UCL)
"Critical modelling issues for sea ice rheology"
Abstract
Roger Fenn
(Sussex)
"Biracks: the search for quaternionic invariants of braids and knots"
Abstract
Eugene Ferapontov
(Loughborough)
"Reciprocal transformations of Hamiltonian operators of hydrodynamic type"
Abstract
Matthew Finn
(Nottingham)
"Modelling artifical kidneys"
Abstract
Alistair Fitt
(Southampton)
"The mechanics of human eyes"
Abstract
Miguel Flores-Lopez
(Manchester)
"Rayleigh-Lamb waves in a cracked plate"
Abstract
M French
(Southampton)
"Adaptive Control and the Gap-Metric"
Abstract
Gero Friesecke
(Warwick)
"The Cauchy-Born rule for elastic crystals: a paradigm in
the passage from atomic to continuum theory"
Abstract
Nikolaos Fountoulakis
(Oxford)
"The degree sequence of the k-core of sparse random graphs"
Abstract
Yan Fyodorov
(Brunel)
"Correlation function of Characteristic Polynomials for Random
Matrices from GUE and chGUE"
Abstract
Julia Gog and John Dawes
(Cambridge)
"Multiple strains: Stationary and oscillatory dynamics"
Abstract
I Graham
(Bath)
"Iterative Methods for PDE Eigenvalue Problems"
Abstract
Jeremy Gray
(OU)
"F.S. Macaulay - an English schoolmaster and abstract algebra"
Abstract
Nico Gray
(Manchester)
"Shock waves, dead zones and particle free regions in rapid granular
free surface flows"
Abstract
Kirk Green
(Bristol)
"Global bifurcations in lasers with delay"
Abstract
Sandy Green
(Oxford and Warwick)
"The history of representation theory"
Abstract
Andrew Grief
(Oxford)
"Modelling flux flow in thin film superconductors"
Abstract
Roger Grimshaw
(Loughborough)
"Solitary waves generated by an external force"
Abstract
Gabriela Gonzalez-Castro
(Southampton)
"Stress due to a scleral buckle;"
Abstract
Sebastien Guenneau
(Liverpool)
"Conical incidence for electromagnetic and elastic waves in an array
of cylindrical fibers"
Abstract
Lorenz Halbeisen
(Queen's, Belfast)
"Making doughnuts of Cohen reals"
Abstract
Ian Hall
(Exeter)
"The effect of fine structure on the stability of planar vortices"
Abstract
B Hambly
(Oxford)
"Characteristic polynomials of random permutation matrices"
Abstract
David Harris
(UMIST)
"A model for slow granular flow incorporating rotation"
Abstract
Andrew Hazel
(Manchester)
"Three-dimensional airway reopening"
Abstract
Xinyu He
(Warwick)
"Existence of Leray's self-similar solutions of
the Navier-Stokes equations in D \subset R^3"
Abstract
Jonathan Healey
(Keele)
"On the effect of nonparallel terms on the absolute and convective
instabilities of the rotating disc boundary layer"
Abstract
Stephen Hibberd
(Nottingham)
"Mathematics Works? -- integration of graduate skills"
Abstract
Nicholas Hill
(Glasgow)
"Travelling Waves in a Simple Phytoplankton-Zooplankton System"
Abstract
Gerhard Hiss
(Aachen)
"Unitary block designs and finite 3-dimensional unitary groups"
Abstract
Rebecca B Hoyle
(Surrey)
"Bifurcation with icosahedral symmetry"
Poster for Nonlinear dynamics:
Abstract
Poster for Granular and particle laden flow:
"The effect of avalanching in a model of aeolian sand ripples"
Abstract
Sophie Huczynska
(Glasgow)
"Quartic and cubic polynomials over Galois fields- some new
results"
Abstract
Julian Hunt
(UCL)
"Uncertainities, inaccuracies and progress in climate models"
Abstract
Peter Hydon
(Surrey)
"Conservation laws for multisymplectic systems"
Abstract
In this paper I present some computer simulations which give a new
twist to a 100-year old problem in the theory of vortex motion. While
Love showed, in 1894, that two vortex pairs in an inviscid fluid can
'leapfrog' repeatedly, it turns out that this motion can be unstable
in a most peculiar way.
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are a clean and efficient method of
energy production. A mathematical model is presented of the flow, mass
fraction and temperature profiles in the zirconia tube of the SOFC,
when the tube is initially heated from one end. Experimental results
show that a reaction front propagates down the zirconia tube from the
point of initial heating. The model takes into account diffusion,
advection and reaction but does not include any electrochemistry. It
is assumed that the reaction front propagates as a wavefront with
constant speed along the tube. Matched asymptotic expansions are used
to find solutions for the mass fractions, temperature and flow
profiles in different asymptotic regions. Numerical and, where
possible, analytical results are given. It is found that the speed of
this travelling wave decreases as the activation temperature of the
reaction increases.
Joint work with:
John Billingham and Andy King
We will introduce a construction of lattices by using the higher power
residue codes. The lattices obtained by this construction are all
invariant under an action of the group SL(2,p) on the vector space
R^{3(p+1)}. The centralizer C of this action is a ring acting on
R^{3(p+1)}. Invertible elements in C act on the set of
SL(2,p)-invariant lattices. Certain even unimodular lattices are shown
to be constructed by this method. This includes some Niemeier lattices
especially the Leech lattice. Using elements of the centralizer of
this action we can define lifting for both higher power residue codes
and quadratic residue codes. Certain self dual codes are obtained by
this procedure.
An investigation into the homoclinic structures of the perturbed
non-integrable coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations which arise in
nonlinear optics and other fields as a model for modulational
instabilities in optical fibres and exhibit much richer dynamics than
the perturbed single nonlinear Schroedinger equation. Melnikov methods
and Hamiltonian techniques are used together with numerical methods to
investigate the homoclinic structure of the perturbed equations.
Joint work with:
VM Rothos and AR Champneys
If a standard finite element method is used to approximate the time
harmonic Maxwell's equations, then in many cases of practical interest,
the sequence of approximations may converge at an optimal rate to a
function that is not a solution of the Maxwell equations. Equally well,
if one is trying to compute resonant frequencies, then a standard method
results in a discrete spectrum that is polluted with spurious, non-physical
modes that are not readily distinguished from the physical values. We
discuss these phenomena and describe a modified approach that does not
suffer from this type of problem.
We consider the impact of symmetry assumptions on the bifurcation
sequence for the flow of a viscous incompressible fluid between
infinite, parallel, porous planes. We assume that the flow possesses
a self-similarity for which the full Navier-Stokes equations reduce
exactly to a set of nonlinear, ordinary-differential equations. The
existence of a bifurcation sequence for the two-dimensional flow in an
infinite-length channel with uniform transpiration at the walls has
been described by Cox (1991). However this sequence is not present if
one instead assumes an axisymmetric flow. We discuss the two problems
and show that in fact there exists the possibility of a bifurcation to
swirl (from a non-swirling state) and non-axisymmetry (supercritical
and subcritical respectively) at the same Reynolds number.
Three-dimensional buoyant convection in a vertical cylindrical cavity
with horizontal temperature gradient in a strong, uniform, vertical
magnetic field is considered. An asymptotic solution of the problem in
the inertialess approximation is obtained for high values of the
Hartmann number, Ha. Symmetry of the flow is investigated for small
Peclet number, Pe = O(1/Ha). Even for such a small Peclet number,
high-velocity jets in the parallel layer lead to significant
convective heat transfer. If undisturbed temperature distribution is
an even function of the vertical co-ordinate, it creates an asymmetric
heat flux at the boundary of the core region. This results in an
asymmetric temperature distribution of O(Pe.Ha^1/2) in the core. The
addition is small, but the symmetry properties of the problem are such
that an odd temperature component with respect to the vertical
co-ordinate produces an even core velocity of the same magnitude as
that of the odd one. The effect is most expressed for a fixed external
heat flux.
Joint work with:
S Molokov
Effects of varying width and shape of girders.
Piecewise isometric maps that are continuous on a partition into convex
polygons show dynamics that is highly analogous to smooth area-preserving
maps. In particular, for typical maps of this type one can find elliptic
periodic points surrounded by islands of invariant curves sitting in a
"sea" of aperiodically coded states. This poster presents some examples
some examples of piecewise isometries that have aperiodically coded
non-smooth invariant curves. These include non-trivial interval exchange
transformations on the curves.
Joint work with:
Joint work with:
Arek Goetz
Plain harmonic motion of an elastic semi-strip is considered.
Asymptotic conditions are derived to provide decay of low-frequency
vibrations induced by prescribed end data. These represent a
perturbation of the well-known static formulae expressing the
Saint-Venant principle. The methodology developed is of great
importance for formulating boundary conditions in 2D plate
theories. In particular it enables to analyse plate vibrations under
self-equilibrium (statically)loads.
Joint work with:
J Kaplunov
The matrix type of a ring R is defined to be a multiplicative
congruence relation\theta=\theta(R) on N:given by m\theta n if
M_m(R)\cong M_n(R). This is a multiplicative congruence on N. It is
well-known that there are rings for which this relation is not the
equality, but if it is then we say that R has the Invariant Matrix
Number (IMN) property.
In this talk we will investigate properties of the matrix type, IMN,
its relationship to the Invariant Basis Number (IBN) and allied
properties.
Joint work with:
Peter Vamos
A DNS of quasi-2d decaying turbulence in channel flow was performed in
order to verify the theory (Nikitin and Chernyshenko [1]) according to
which near-wall coherent structures result from an instability caused
by anisotropy of normal Reynolds stresses.
Incompressible flow of constant mean pressure gradient in a plane
channel flow was calculated. The initial conditions and, hence, the
entire solution is independent of the longitudinal coordinates. We
supply an initial random velocity field which had no organized
structures and was divergence-free. The cross-flow eventually decays
but before it comes to rest coherent structures in the form of
vortices in v and w (the velocity components) and their by-products
streaks in u near the walls are expected to emerge.
The work is in progress and it shows favorable evidence in favour of
the theory.
[1] Nikitin, N.V and Chernyshenko, S.I., 1997, Fluid Dynamics,
Vol. 32, No.1, pp. 18-23.
The cells of eye lens have no vascular supply, since this would
scatter in-coming light rays. Instead the lens cells rely upon an
intricate network of transport processes that channels nutrients and
waste products between the lens surface and the lens nucleus. In this
talk I will outline some basic lens physiology and present results of
simulations using a finite element implementation of a simple lens
model.
Let X be a square-integrable random variable with density f satisfying
a spectral gap inequality with constant c for the f-Laplacian, and Y
be an independent copy of X. Let E_1= -integral(f log f) be the
entropy of X, E_2 the entropy of the normalised sum (X+Y)/sqrt(2) and
E_infty the entropy of the Gaussian with the same variance. Then
E_2 - E_1 >= c/4 (E_infty - E_1)
so that a fixed proportion of the entropy gap from the Gaussian is
captured with each convolution.
The proof depends upon a new formula for the entropy of a marginal
which can be regarded as an inverse to the classical Brunn-Minkowski
inequality.
The semi-explicit, differential-algebraic boundary-value problem
Lx=\lambda f(x,y),g(x,y)=0,x(0)=x(1)=0,
is considered, where L is an elliptic operator, and conditions are
given under which a bifurcating branch emanates from a trivial
solution at a critical parameter value. Moreover, it is shown that
there are countably many branches which bifurcate at this parameter
value, and using a uniqueness theorem for non-Lipshitz differential
equations, we show that the problem also possesses a continuum of
bifurcation points.
It is shown by example that solution branches need not be unbounded,
in contrast to the well- known results of Krasnoselskii, Crandall,
Rabinowitz et al, and consequences for numerical discretisations of
the problem will be discussed.
Joint work with:
R Laister
A numerical method for locating and identifying all homoclinic orbits
of invertible maps in any (finite) dimension.
Hodgkin and Huxley (1952, Nobel Prize 1963) have proposed a
mathematical model of the electric action of the giant squid axon, the
first to describe such an exclusively biological phenomenon as
excitability. This spawned a large family of models describing other
biophysically related phenomena, e.g. excitability of heart muscle.
All these models are rather complicated, do not admit analytical
solution, and mostly treated numerically. FitzHugh (1961) has
suggested that the key properties of the Hodgkin-Huxley system of
equations can be qualitatively simulated by an appropriate
modification of the van der Pol's model of an electronic circuit with
an active element. Nagumo et al. (1963) have proposed a
spatially-modified version of FitzHugh's system, to describe the
propagation of excitation. Throughout the last four decades, the
FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) system and its numerous modifications have
served well as very simple but qualitatively reasonable models of the
complicated processes of excitation and propagation in nerve fibre,
heart muscle and other biological spatially-extended excitable
systems.
It appears that while successfully describing successful propagation
of excitation, FHN-type systems fail to adequately describe
propagation failure. Yet it is propagation failure that is most
important for some applications of these models, e.g. in relation with
onset of fibrillation of heart muscle and sudden cardiac death. In
this talk, I will demonstrate a particular kind of propagation failure
which is IMPOSSIBLE in FHN-type systems. I will suggest an explanation
of this impossibility and identify the key feature responsible for
this difference between the biophysical models and their FHN
caricature. I will also present a simple model, that retains this key
feature of the biophysical models, can reproduce this type of
propagation failure and still admits analytical treatment.
Every fisherman understands the problem one faces in untangling a
tangled ball of string. To state it as a problem which is mathematically
precise, mathematicians make the string infinitely long, so that the ends
cannot be "passed through". (Alternatively, one considers knots in
circular strings). One can then ask the question: "Is the
string unknotted? How can we tell?" This simple question turns out to
be a basic question in that part of 3-manifold topology which relates to
complexity theory. In this talk we will survey what is known.
To be supplied
Laboratory on chip technology, bacterial locomotion, gamete transport,
mucous transport, suspensions, red blood cell motion, ink-jet printing
are all areas of study in micro-hydrodynamics. At these small micron
scales the presence of boundaries, surface forces, contact lines,
Brownian motion, non-Newtonian fluid behaviour are aspects of the flow
that might also be important. From the micro-hydrodynamic viewpoint,
transport and mixing, the very low Reynolds number equivalent of
turbulence, are of great significance.
This lecture will consider two features of this research area - mixing
and feeding processes that are associated with micro-organisms and
potential advances to 'laboratory on chip' technology by taking
advice from nature on the movement of fluids of differing viscosities
in narrow channels.
(1) From R. P. Feyman, the "Father of
Nanotechnology" lecture to the American Physical
Society, 29th December, 1959 on 'There's plenty of
room at the bottom'.
Joint work with: SR Otto
The unsteady flow in a circular pipe driven by time-periodic motion of
the wall is investigated. The pipe is taken to be of infinite extent
and the fluid is assumed incompressible. A similar problem involving
pulsating flow in a channel was studied by Hall & Papageorgiou (JFM
V. 393, 1999). For the axisymmetric problem, it is found that
sufficiently small driving frequencies, with a fixed amplitude,
produce a flow which is in synch with the wall motion. However, when
the driving frequency is increased, eventually a Hopf bifurcation is
encountered and the two motions become asynchronous and, sometimes,
chaotic. The problem is tackled primarily by numerical means,
although, in a steady-streaming limit, some progress can be made using
high Reynolds number asymptotics.
Joint work with:
P Hall and DT Papageorgiou
Becker & Doering presented an enduring model of nucleation in 1935;
clusters form by the addition, or subtraction, of single particles
(monomers) with no interaction between larger clusters. Such larger
clusters evolve by maintaining a dynamic balance of monomer
aggregation and fragmentation. The effect of dimers (a two-particle
cluster) interactions on the Becker-Doering model of nucleation is
investigated. We consider the problem with size-independent
aggregation and fragmentation coefficients and initially a constant
monomer concentration. Either an equilibrium, or a steady-state,
solution is found; the former when fragmentation is stronger than
aggregation, the latter otherwise. By employing asymptotic
techniques, the manner in which the system reaches these states is
examined. The dimer interaction is found to accelerate the system
toward the equilibrium solution, but has little impact on the
relaxation time to the steady-state solution. In cases where
aggregation is dominant, the steady-state cluster size distribution
can only be determined consistently when the manner of approach to
steady-state is also known. In the terminology of asymptotic methods,
one needs to know the first correction term in order to deduce the
leading-order solution. We indicate how this can be derived and so at
steady-state find a flux of matter to larger aggregation numbers due
to monomer interactions, with a small and decreasing reverse flux due
to dimer interactions. We then consider the case of constant density,
that is allowing the monomer concentration to vary, and investigate
the effect of a strong dimer interaction on the convergence to
equilibrium. Two timescales are present and each are investigated. We
determine the intermediate meta-stable state, the final state and the
timescales over which the system relaxes into these states.
Self-reproducing molecular systems have been investigated
experimentally over recent years since they exhibit many of the
fundamental properties of a living system, and so have the potential
to model life in pre-biotic conditions. One such self-reproducing
system which has received attention is that of spherical lipid
bi-layers: vesicles. For large enough concentrations of surfactant
these also have the attractive property of spontaneously forming
structures analogous to a biological cell. More recent experiments
start with a stock of monomers and a small amount of pre-added
vesicles of a particular diameter. The final distribution of vesicle
size is found to be strongly biased towards the diameter of the
pre-added vesicles; a size-templating ``matrix'' effect (for example
see Berclaz, J. Phys. Chem. B 105, 1056 (2001)) . We develop a
microscopic model of vesicle formation, based on a novel
generalisation of the Becker-Doeoring equations and solve this
numerically. Furthermore we reduce this model to a low dimensional
system of ODE's in the macroscopic limit and solve it using a
combination of matched asymptotics and phase plane analysis;
concluding that the model correctly captures the experimentally
observed behaviour.
Fungi form a vital component in nearly all natural vegetative
ecosystems. Moreover, certain fungi have great potential for use as
biocontrol agents in agriculture and as bioremediation agents in
e.g. the cleansing of polluted landscapes. The study of this
important class organisms is very difficult using traditional
experimental means alone, particularly when the growth environment is
heterogeneous as is most often the case in their natural habitats. In
this talk, a two-dimensional partial differential equation model
describing the branching-type architecture of mycelial fungi will be
discussed by careful consideration of events occurring at the
micro-scale. The model equations are of mixed hyperbolic-parabolic
type and it is essential in their solution that both mass is conserved
and positivity is maintained. An efficient numerical scheme, using
flux limiters in the spatial discretization and time splitting in the
integration proceedure, will be presented which satisfies these
important demands. We will show that on calibrating the model using
known properties for the species Rhizoctonia solani
information is provided on the growth behaviour which is in very good
qualitative and quantitative agreement with experimental data. A
discrete probabilistic model derived from the continuum model will
also be discussed and preliminary results of its application to a
soil-like environment will be presented.
Joint work with:
Helen Jacobs, Fordyce Davidson, Geoff Gadd and Karl Ritz
The rupture of a thin film on a horizontal plate with an insoluble
surfactant is considered. Marangoni and surface viscous stresses are
included. Lubrication theory yields equations for the film surface,
the surface velocity and the surface concentration. Rupture occurs
for all values of the surface viscosity and the rupture time compared
to the clean case may be postponed by more than a factor of 4 for some
initial conditions. Similarity behavior is also explored.
Joint work with:
C DeBisschop, SA Snow and LP Cook
We discuss several situations where the standard mathematical
model for the motion of an aqueous solution of soluble surfactant is
insufficient to describe experimentally observed behaviour.
We focus on situations where we have an interface which is not in
thermodynamic equilibrium with the solution. In this case, there is
no functional relationship between the concentration of surfactant
residing in the free surface and the concentration just below. Further,
the surface tension may vary due to changes in both the surface and
subsurface surfactant concentrations.
We present a revised model which addresses these points, and we discuss
the model's solution.
Recently, working with J.P.Huke and M.R.Muldoon, we have been studying
the use of iterated function systems (IFS) as models of digital
communications channels. This approach allows the use of delay
embedding methods for analysing the channel output, and so allows
signal processing techniques to be developed which do not rely on
assuming that the channel is linear.
In practice, a channel might be a piece of wire or an optical fibre
(it may be something much more complicated) and so it would be good to
be able to derive IFS channel models from appropriate partial
differential equations which describe the basic physics of the channel
in question.
This talk will describe some results we have obtained for the case of
the (distortionless) telegrapher's equation driven by random sequences
of short pulses. We show how to constuct for this system, an IFS on a
suitable Banach space and show that this has a finite-dimensional
compact attractor. We derive an upper bound for the box- counting
dimension of this set and show that it is proportional to the rate at
which symbols are input to the channel.
Joint work with:
AG Brown
We consider the boundary-layer receptivity at the leading edge of a
streamlined solid body with finite downstream thickness. The mean flow
is taken to be two-dimensional and incompressible. Theory has been
developed recently for the interaction of acoustic waves with Rankine
bodies and generalisations of Rankine bodies. In this paper we
consider the effect of small amplitude vortical disturbances in the
mean flow on the boundary-layer receptivity.
The development of the unsteady disturbances in the boundary-layer are
forced by the unsteady slip velocity obtained from the outer potential
solution. In order to solve the outer velocity field it is necessary
to split the flow into two parts: a vortical part which is a known
function of the external disturbance and a potential part to be found
by solving a linear inhomogeneous wave equation.
Since the body has a stagnation point at its leading edge the vortical
part develops a singularity along the entire body surface. Hence, it
is necessary to further split the flow in order to determine the outer
flow such that this singular behaviour is cancelled at the body. We
apply this method to the above example and introduce a numerical
scheme and discuss the limitations and problems that arise in this
case. Numerical Results will be presented.
Joint work with: PW Hammerton
One of the best ways to teach and learn mathematics is through hands
on workshops As part of a public understanding of science project in
collaboration with the EPSRC and the Royal Institution, a team from
the University of Bath has been giving workshops to young people
around Bath and Bristol. These have been on magic, chaos, liquid
Nitrogen, ... . Each workshop has been professionally filmed and extra
graphis included. The resulting videos form (we hope) a valuable
teaching resource. I will describe this project in more detail and
show some clips from the videos.
We present a new construction for the product of Dirichlet
spaces. These result can be applied also for a constructing product of
a large class differential operators and Markov processes. We
investigate after that properties of capacity and negligible sets on
the product space.
The classical nonlinear Schroedinger (NLS) models are nonlinear pdes
in complex fields, \psi(x,t), appearing in the two types `repulsive'
(c>0, self-defocussing) and attractive (c<0, self-focussing). The
real coupling constant c controls the nonlinearity in these NLS
equations---which are of course -i\psi_t=\nabla^2\psi-2c\psi^*\psi^2,
with x\in R^d and t\in R. For d=1, only, the translationally
invariant NLS equations are nonlinear completely integrable
Hamiltonian systems in the usual Liouville-Arnold sense (extended to
infinite dimensional dynamical systems) for any c\ne0. For d=2 or d=3
the systems are not completely integrable, there being an insufficient
number of constants commuting under the Poisson bracket {.,.} [1].
Under translational invariance the quantum NLS models show
the same features: for d=1 there is quantum complete
integrability while for d=2 or d=3 the systems (c\ne0) are not quantum
integrable. These features become relevant to recent experiments on
Bose-Einstein condensed metal vapours, e.g. ^{87}Rb vapour, held in
magnetic traps at circa 300 nanoKelvin [2]. Here c>0 and d=3, and
moreover the magnetic trap, modelled as a paraboloidal potential,
breaks translational invariance and linear momentum is not a constant
(not a `good quantum number'). Even so we have successfully
calculated [3] the 2-point quantum correlation functions of the form
<\hat\psi^\dag(x,\tau)\hat\psi(x',\tau')> for the quantum fields
\hat\psi, \hat\psi^\dag ([\hat\psi,\hat\psi^\dag]=\hbar\delta(x-x')
etc. at equal times, [.,.] is the Lie bracket and
\hbar=h/2\pi is Planck's constant and we set \hbar=1). Here \tau is a
thermal time for thermal equilibrium (which will be explained). So
far a tantalising measure of agreement is obtained with the
experiments [2] and we expect still better agreement from further
experiments still to be done with particular reference to the
breakdown of translational invariance. For c<0 and d=3 still other
experiments [4] show instability and (literally!) an actual
`blow-up.' But for the classical NLS model for c<0 and d=3 [5] we
show `blow-up' and `collapse' in the sense of Zakharov [5] in which
the blow-up displays itself as a \delta-function singularity in the
density \psi^*\psi centred at the origin of the trap x=0.
[1] Lecture `Integrable Turbulence,' VE Zakharov at the `III Potsdam-V
Kiev Workshop,' Clarkson University, Potsdam NY, USA, August 1--11,
1991.
[2] I Bloch et al, Nature 403, 166 (2000).
[3] NM Bogoliubov et al, Europhysics Letters 55(6), 755--761
(2001).
[4] SL Cornish et a, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 1795 (2000) and subsequent
experiments.
[5] A Rybin et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. E62,
6224 (2000)
Given a group G and a subset X of G, a commuting graph has vertex set
X and edges {x, y} whenever x and y in X commute. The authors
consider the cases when G is a symmetric group and X is a conjugacy
class of involutions of G. They determine when such graphs are
connected and the diameter of graph in the connected cases. They also
give some information about the orbits of vertex stabilizers on the
graph.
Joint work with:
C Bates, S Perkins and P Rowley
The conflict between relativistic causality and localizability is
analyzed in the light of the existence of unsharp localization
observables. A theorem due to S. Schlieder is generalized, showing
that the assumption of local commutativity implies the localization
observable in question to be unsharp in a strong sense. Furthermore, a
recent generalization of a theorem of Luders is applied to demonstrate
that local commutativity is a necessary consequence of Einstein
causality even in the case of unsharp observables if they admit local
measurements. These findings seem to corroborate the result known for
sharp localization observables, namely, that they cannot be measured
by means of local operations.
This talk will consider recent work with Marcus du Sautoy on the
linearity of pro-p groups analytic over pro-p rings.
Skeletal muscle fibres are large multi-nucleated cells. The primary
source of energy to the muscle fibres is supplied by their
mitochondria and mutations in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can cause
serious skeletal myopathies. One signature of these myopathies is a
existance of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) deficient regions along the
length of the individual fibres, associated with the presence of high
levels of mutated mtDNA in those sections of the fibre. Serial muscle
biopsies show that these regions often take the form of long sections
of COX deficient fibre, with the rest of the fibre having normal COX
levels. These experiments give us a snapshot in time of the COX
deficiency, but how do these regions form over time? Using a
stochastic simulation, we model an individual muscle fibre as a series
of connected compartments, with each compartment representing the
cytoplasm, including the mitochondria, supported by a single nucleus.
Within each compartment we use a model of cellular mtDNA
populations. By allowing the motion of mtDNA along the length of the
muscle fibre, modelled as diffusion between compartments, we are able
to investigate the formation and development of the COX deficient
regions.
Joint work with:
David C Samuels, Patrick F Chinnery and Joanna L Elson
Mitochondria are the semi-autonomous organelles that are
responsible for generating the majority of the energy required by
mammalian cells under normal conditions. They are only
semi-autonomous because the replication, transcription and
translation of the DNA molecules within the mitochondrion, mtDNA,
are ultimately controlled by the cell nucleus. We present a
series of three models of the nuclear control of mtDNA
replication, with an increasing complexity in the role of mtDNA
mutations in the models. We solve these deterministic models
exactly, and compare these solutions to the results of stochastic
simulations of the same systems. We use the steady states of the
deterministic model to explain behaviors that are often seen in
the cells of patients affected by mitochondrial diseases, and that
also occur with age. The parameters of these models illustrate the
dual control of mitochondria by both the nuclear and mitochondrial
DNA.
We consider a spatial version of Watson and Lovelock's (1983) model
`daisyworld'. Two plant types, black daisies and white daisies compete
on a hyperthetical planet, stabilizing the global temperature via an
albedo feedback. Numerical solutions show a striped pattern of black
and white daisies. A stability analysis shows that there are two
mechanisms involved in the pattern formation. A Turing-like process
causes the uniform equilibrium state to be unstable to non-constant
perturbation.
I will show a generalization of the classical
Transition by Breaking of Analiticity in the
Frenkel-Kontorova model (a discrete sine-Gordon)
to finite Planck's constant and temperature. This
analysis is based on the study of a
renormalization operator for the case of
irrational mean spacing using Feynman's
functional integral approach.
This talk concerns models which arise in optics and other areas of
physics that can be written as a non-integrable system of two coupled
nonlinear Schrodinger-type equations which are coupled through their
nonlinearity. Examples include models for birefrigence and satuarable
nonlinearity. We will focus on a new global bifurcation of solitary
waves that can be predicted by a local analysis. Specifically we
consider a mechanism where a non-local event, namely the bifurcation
`at infinity' of a vector soliton from a plane polarised one, can be
predicted from the linearisation about the the plane wave. These
bifurcations are shown to be a natural counterpart to the truely local
bifurcation of a `wave and daugther wave'. It also explains the
earlier numerical findings of Kivshar and Ostrovskaya on a model with
saturable nonlinearity.
Joint work with:
Jianke Yang,
Certain laminar flows are known to be linearly stable at all Reynolds
numbers, R, although in practice they always become turbulent for
sufficiently large R. Other flows typically become turbulent well
before the critical Reynolds number of linear instability. A
resolution of these paradoxes is that the domain of attraction for the
laminar state shrinks for large R (as R^\gamma say, with \gamma <
0), so that small but finite perturbations lead to transition.
Numerical experiments by Lundbladh, Henningson & Reddy (1993)
indicated that for streamwise initial perturbations \gamma = -1 and
-7/4 for plane Couette and plane Poiseuille flow respectively (using
subcritical Reynolds numbers for plane Poiseuille flow), while for
oblique initial perturbations \gamma = -5/4 and -7/4.
The small domain of attraction is the result of the non-normality of
the Orr-Sommerfeld operator, which leads to initial conditions
exhibiting large transient growth in the solution, which may then
undergo a secondary instability. These ideas will be illustrated by
simple toy models, and then, through a formal asymptotic analysis of
the Navier-Stokes equations, it will be shown that for streamwise
initial perturbations \gamma = -1 and -3/2 for plane Couette and
plane Poiseuille flow respectively (factoring out the unstable modes
for plane Poiseuille flow), while for oblique initial perturbations
\gamma = -1 and -5/4. Furthermore it is shown why the numerically
determined threshold exponents are not the true asymptotic values.
It is not always easy to tell whether a semi-prime Noetherian ring has
injective dimension one. We shall describe how to answer this
question in some special situations and discuss some of the
consequences when the dimension is one. Idealiser rings provide one
special context in which it is possible to make considerable progress.
Two examples of scattering billiard systems which exhibit
anti-integrability are shown. Under some non-degeneracy conditions, we
proved that all anti-integrable orbits can be continued from
"delta-billiards" to the usual billiards and that any periodic orbit
has infinitely many homoclinic orbits as well as heteroclinic orbits
to any others. There exists a Cantor set such that the billiard map
restricted to it is conjugate to a subshift of finite type with an
arbitrarily given number of symbols.
Following our talk at BAMC2K we study further a linear non-uniformly
elliptic periodic problem set on a conducting composite with highly
anisotropic fibres, which was earlier shown to exhibit non-local
behaviour in the homogenised limit [3].
We present a new high-contrast Poincare-type inequality that allows to
justify rigorously the limiting procedure in the above problem without
the "damping term" that was introduced in the earlier formulation.
The homogenisation is performed using the method of two-scale
asymptotic expansions. This includes an explicit procedure for finding
higher-order correctors to the homogenised solution and gives the
usual error estimates. Thus the method of asymptotic expansions
complements the two-scale convergence technique, which is briefly
reviewed and compared to the former.
We present the corresponding non-local homogenised constitutive
relation between electric field and current, and outline application
of the above mathematical tools in linearised elasticity.
Finally, using the model setting of anti-plane shear of a linear
elastic periodic composite, we describe the interrelations between the
above non-local behaviour and higher-gradient asymptotics studied by
the first two authors in [1,2].
[1] Smyshlyaev, V.P., Cherednichenko, K.D. On derivation of ``strain
gradient'' effects in the overall behaviour of periodic heterogeneous
media. J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 48, 1325--1357, 2000.
[2] Cherednichenko, K.D., Smyshlyaev, V.P. On full asymptotic expansion
of the solutions of nonlinear periodic rapidly oscillating problems, 1999.
Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Preprint NI99028-SMM.
[3] Cherednichenko, K.D., Smyshlyaev, V.P., Zhikov, V.V. ``Non-local''
homogenised limits for periodic composite media, preprint, 2000.
Joint work with:
VP Smyshlyaev and VV Zhikov
The motion of swimming microorganisms that have a preferred direction
of travel, such as single-celled algae moving upwards (gravitaxis) or
towards a light source (phototaxis), has been modelled as the
continuous limit of a correlated and biased random walk by Hill and
Hader (1997).
Othmer et al. (1988) originally derived a generalized equation to
describe velocity jump processes and calculated spatial statistics
from it. In their work, they assumed that the turn angle distribution
was the sum of a symmetric probability distribution and a bias
term. We have extended this theory to use turning angle distributions
which implicitly include bias, as measured by Hill and Hader (1997) in
experiments. Thus we derive equations for the mean swimming velocity,
diffusivity and other spatial statistics that are required in
continuum models for the flow of suspensions of such swimming
microorganisms.
We present a computer algorithm for simulating correlated and biased
random walks of swimming microorganisms and compare results from
simulations to expected values given by the derived equations.
Joint work with:
NA Hill
The basic problem is to embed a ring in a skew field, when possible, or
more generally to study homomorphisms to a skew field. The key feature is
to invert matrices rather than elements, and a closer examination leads to
a criterion for embeddability.
The problem of rotating spherical convection has been of great
interest due to its astrophysical and geophysical applications. Soward
(1977) identified that the previous `local' theories, which determine
a critical Rayleigh number, R_L, could not be acceptably embedded into
the `global' theory (ie a WKBJ type solution), due to the phenomenon
of phase mixing. Yano (1992) revisited the spherical problem but
neglected certain terms in the governing equations based on a small
inclination of the boundary. This had the advantage of yielding an
algebraic dispersion relation. Solving this system, with the
appropriate `global' conditions, determined the true critical Rayleigh
number, R_c, which was found to be an O(1) amount greater than R_L
. Encouragingly, this agreed well with the study of the full equations
by Jones, Soward, Mussa (2000).
We have now extended Yano's linear model to include nonlinear terms
and have numerically traced the nonlinear solutions. It is seen that
the subcritical or supercritical behaviour of the system is dependent
on the Ekman number although, notably, Ekman numbers as low as 3\times
10^{-8} are required to fully understand the complexity of the
problem. A time dependent code has been developed to investigate
stability.
How can a water wave exert a big transient pressure when it impacts a
vertical seawall? A wave of breaking-height h_b, meeting a wall, can
exert pressures measured to be about 10\rho gh_b, for a few
milliseconds. Wave impact is so quick that it is difficult to resolve
photographically what the water surface is doing when these high
pressures occur. Recent computations of unsteady, 2D, free-surface
flow, [1], will be shown, which accord with published cine-film
images. Impact pressures are not necessarily due to the direct
collision of water onto the wall, but instead can be related to a
focussing of the forward face of the wave towards a small zone on the
wall. Focussing culminates in a narrow, ascending jet at the wall,
which can accelerate at 100,000g. The computed pressures are as
intense as in wave-tank measurements.
[1] Cooker, M.J. & Peregrine, D.H. 2002 Computations of violent water
wave impact on a vertical wall and flip-through. In preparation.
In the presence of long wavelength instability and short wavelength
dissipation, a nonlinear dispersive wave system can have auto-soliton
solutions. In particular, for nonlinear magneto acoustic waves this
regime can be reached in the presence of active non-adiabaticity,
associated radiative or thermal instability and viscous, resistive or
thermal conduction dissipation. Taking these phenomena into account,
nonlinear magneto acoustic modes of a magnetic flux slab are described
by the extended Benjamin-Ono (eBO) equation. We studied the
interaction of localized solutions of the extended Benjamin-Ono
equation with the use of multi-soliton perturbation theory, developed
for the BO equation by Matsuno (1994). It is always possible to
distinguish between two stages of the evolution. The initial stage of
the soliton interaction corresponds qualitatively to the exact
two-soliton solution of the BO equation. However, when the soliton
amplitudes approach the auto-soliton amplitude and, consequently,
become almost equal, the two-soliton peaks were found to repel. Thus,
we conclude that two interacting auto-solitons always repel, even
though the parameters associated with them tend to the same position.
A similar behavior was observed in three-soliton and four-soliton
systems.
Joint work with: VM Nakariakov
In underwater seismic surveying it is important to have a signal
that is well known in the far field (when it impacts against the
Earth's crust), and that is sharp and powerful to allow easier
analysis of the reflections from the layers in the Earth's crust.
One of the current methods used is an airgun cluster, consisting of
2 to 3 airguns of varying volumes with separations of ~1m. An airgun
contains air compressed to about 140atm. When fired this air
is released explosively into the sea at typical depths of 3-10m. The
air bubble produced expands rapidly, past equilibrium due to
momentum built up in the surrounding water and then collapses down
to near starting volume. It repeats this cycle oscillating with a
period of ~100ms and also rising due to buoyancy towards the sea
surface. In an airgun cluster, the bubbles produced interact with
each other giving a longer period of oscillation and greater damping
in the first collapse which produces a better signal. This talk
explains why this happens and shows what the boundary integral
method reveals about the importance of deformation and close
interactions in airgun generated bubbles. In particular, jet
formation as a source of damping, and the phenomena of frequency
locking are investigated. Underwater films are presented backing up
some of the predictions.
Joint work with:
John R Blake and Antony Pearson
The presence of a conserved quantity in a pattern-forming system can
significantly affect the stability of patterns, and can even lead to
strong localisation of the pattern. Near their onset, the evolution of
simple, regular patterns is governed by coupled Ginzburg--Landau
equations for the amplitudes of the various pattern modes involved,
coupled to an equation governing the modulation of a large-scale mode
related to the presence of a conserved quantity. For instance, in a
fluid layer with a free surface the conserved quantity is the mass of
fluid, and the corresponding large-scale mode is the deflection of the
fluid surface. We describe the influence of a conserved quantity on
various regular patterns (rolls/stripes, squares and hexagons) near
the stationary onset of pattern formation, and show how strong
localisation can occur right at onset.
We explain the connections between the following topics, and discuss
some progress. (1) The representation theory of a certain class of
finite-dimensional associative algebras, the quasi-tilted
algebras. (2) The existence of indecomposable parabolic vector bundles
on the projective line. (3) A problem of Deligne and Simpson
concerning the existence of matrices in given conjugacy classes whose
product is the identity.
Using techniques from complex analysis, the free boundary problem for
the determination of the steady shapes of two interacting inviscid
bubbles in the slow viscous flow-field of a 4-roller mill is
addressed. Closed form solutions for the bubbles shapes and the
associated flow field are found. The results generalize the work of
Antanovskii (JFM, vol 327, 1996) who considered the case of a single
bubble to the case of two interacting bubbles. Potential applications
of the results are discussed.
There has been a great deal of interest in the problems of modelling
cables and ropes. A recent review by Cardou and Jolicoeur [1] considers
the modelling of a cable which consists of a central core surrounded by
one or several helically-wound wire layers and cites 107 papers. Other
authors have adopted a continuum approach regarding each layer as a
transversely isotropic material whose principal direction is along a helix
surrounding the central axis of the cable. In each layer the helix angle
is constant so that, when referred to cylindrical polar co-ordinates, the
cylinder has a constant stiffness matrix in each layer. The intention of
this presentation is to use the continuum approach and describe the
analytical solutions that govern some elastic deformations of an
anisotropic elastic cylinder consisting of a single material of this
type. The extension of this work to a composite cylinder consisting of
several concentric layers, surrounding a central core, which are either
bonded together or make frictionless contact, will be briefly described if
time allows.
[1] A. Cardou and C. Jolicoeur, "Mechanical models of helical strands",
Appl Mech Rev, Vol.50(1), 1997, pp.1-14
Joint work with:
AH England and AJM Spencer
A ureteric stent is a plastic tube placed into the ureter to relieve
or prevent obstruction. The ureter is a muscular tube which transports
urine from the kidney to the bladder.
Whilst the stent may be organ- or life-saving in some cases, it presents
patient and surgeon with a new set of problems. The stent can `crust up'
with crystals of calcium oxalate (present in solution in urine),
and since it holds open the junction between the bladder and the ureter
it can lead to `reflux' of bacteria-rich bladder urine back up towards
the kidney when bladder pressure increases.
We present a simple mathematical model of the flow in a stented ureter,
and examine solutions in certain physiologically-relevant asymptotic
regimes. It is hoped that a better understanding of the flow dynamics
may lead to improved stent design and performance.
Joint work with:
Stuart Graham, Sarah Waters and Jonathan Wattis
Let N be a finite group, and let H be a subgroup of N of index n.
Further let \rho: H --> Z_p^*, the non-zero integers modulo the prime
p, be a linear representation of H, so H is mapped onto a cyclic
subgroup C_m of Z _p^*, where m | p-1. Inducing \rho up to N yields
\rho^N, an n-dimensional monomial representation of N whose non-zero
entries are mth roots of unity in Z_p^*.
Now let p^{*n} denote a free product of n copies of the cyclic group of
order p; thus
E = < t_1, t_2, ... , t_n | t_i^p = 1, forall i > \cong p^{*n}.
For x \in N, the matrix \rho^N(x) describes how x can act (by
conjugation) as an automorphism of E as follows:
If the {ij}th entry of \rho^N(x) is r, then t_i^x = t_j^r.
Thus x permutes the cyclic subgroups generated by the t_i, but may map t_i
to some non-trivial power of t_j. This defines a semi-direct product of the
form
P = E : N = p^{*n}:N,
which we call a progenitor. Finite homomorphic images of such
progenitors are investigated, and it turns out that many sporadic
simple groups are obtained in a revealing manner.
The simplest
case, when p = 2 and the monomial representation just yields the
permutation representation, is particularly fruitful.
Recent results involving some of the larger sporadic groups will be
described.
The process of `differentiation' is, of course, of fundamental
importance in our subject; the abstract version of this is to look
when there is a derivation on an algebra. A Banach algebra A
is said to be amenable if every continuous derivation from A
into a dual Banach A-bimodule is inner. I will explain what this
means and why it seems to be a centrally important notion.
I shall recall some classical theorems and examples on amenability,
and also describe some recent results. However, I shall point out that
some basic questions remain open.
The term `amenable' for Banach algebras comes from B E Johnson's
famous theorem that the group algebra L^1(G) is amenable if and only
if the locally compact group G is amenable. A related algebra is
M(G), the measure algebra on G. I shall describe our recent solution
to the question when M(G) is amenable: this latter is joint work with
F Ghahramani and A Ya Helemskii.
In this paper we construct a renormalisation fixed point corresponding
to the strong coupling limit of the Harper equation, which is an
important quantum mechanical model, for quadratic rotation numbers
with continued fraction expansion [a,a,a,a,...] for a \in N. We use
renormalisation methods to study self-similarity in the fluctuations
\eta_i in the strong-coupling limit \lambda --> \infty, E =~ 2\lambda,
where E is the eigenvalue corresponding to the eigenfunction \psi_i
defined on the one-dimensional integer lattice indexed by i\in Z, for
the case of \omega = (\sqrt{a^2 + 4} - a)/2, a \in N, with the
phase \phi = 0.
Joint work with: BD Mestel
We study the effect of volumetric heat-loss on the propagation of
triple flames in the counterflow configuration. Analytical results are
derived in the weak-strain asymptotic limit for the flame propagation
speed and its shape. These are compared to, and complemented by
numerical results covering a wide range of values of the strain rate
up to near-extinction values. In particular, a monotonic variation of
the propagation speed from positive to negative values, similar to
that obtained in the adiabatic case, is found provided that the
heat-loss is sufficiently weak. For stronger heat-loss, however, a
non-monotonic dependence is obtained associated with the existence of
different burning regimes. The different regimes observed are
delimited in a two-dimensional plane in terms of the heat-loss
intensity and the strain rate.
Joint work with:
J Daou and J Dold
Wavelets are a relatively new approach used in the analysis of sounds
and images, as well as in many other applications. The wavelet transform
provides a mathematical analog to a music score: just as the score tells
a musician which notes to play when, the wavelet analysis of a sound
takes things apart into elementary units with a well defined frequency
(which note?) and at a well defined time (when?). For images wavelets
allow one to first describe the coarse features with a broad brush, and
then later to fill in details, similar to zooming in with a camera. For
this reason, the wavelet transform is sometimes called a "mathematical
microscope".
Wavelets are used by many scientists for many different applications.
Outside science as well, wavelets are finding their uses: the FBI has
Been using a wavelet scheme for the compression of its vast library of
fingerprint data for several years, and wavelets are incorporated in the
next generation image compression standard.
The talk will start by explaining the basic principles of wavelets,
which are very simple. Then they will be illustrated with some examples,
including pictures of the wavelet scheme used by the FBI. Throughout the
talk we will see how wavelets emerged as a synthesis of ideas from many
different directions.
We discuss the difference between two methods of calculating the spectrum of
a random non-self-adjoint operator, one by taking the limit of a finite
chain as its length tends to infinity, and the other by considering the
inifinite chain directly. We describe the results obtained using the second
method in some detail.
The trajectory and stability of a spiralling viscous liquid jet
arising from a rotating container is discussed. Due to the rotation,
surface tension and gravity, the trajectory of the jet is curved in
space, and the path of this jet is determined using an asymptotic
method. The stability of this jet is examined using a multiple scales
methodology, and this gives rise to a prediction for the break up
length of the jet. Experimental results will also be described as well
as the industrial motivation for this problem.
Joint work with:
AC King, M Simmons, IM Wallwork, D Wong and E Parau
We show how studying large cardinals in set theory (whose existence
is, and will remain, an unprovable assumption) has led to new examples
of algebraic systems satisfying the left self-distributivity law, and,
from there, quite naturally, to the discovery of some canonical linear
ordering of braids. The latter has now received a number of
geometrical or topological constructions, and it has led to efficient
new braid algorithms, with possible cryptographical applications.
It is well known that the base space of the miniversal unfolding of a
function with an isolated singular point can be equipped with a
multiplicative structure on the tangent bundle and a flat metric, making
it into a Frobenius manifold. If f is a function on a space curve, then
the base space of its miniversal deformation can also be equipped with a
multiplication on the sheaf of vector fields tangent to the discriminant
of the family of curves. There is also a candidate for flat metric.
For non-discrete dynamical systems Lefschaetz formulae take a
different shape and become identities of distributions. For geodesic
flows of locally symmetric spaces they can be derived from Selberg
type trace formulae. This then gives rise to a theory of generalized
Selberg zeta functions. There are applications like the prime
geodesic theorem which in turn can be applied to compute asymptotics
of class numbers. Attempts to transfer this theory to an adelic
setting have led to a spectral interpretation of the "good" zeros of
the Riemann zeta function and conjectural adelic trace formulae.
There is a classical relation between the residue at s=1 of the
zeta function of a number field, and the regulator of the units
of its ring of integers. There is a similar relation between the
values at n>=2 of the zeta function, and a regulator of the
(2n-1)-st K-group of the number field, which was proved by Borel.
Bloch proved a similar statement relating K_2 of an elliptic
curve over the rationals with complex multiplication to the value
of its L-function at 2, and Beilinson conjectured a sweeping
generalization of this to smooth projective varieties over number
fields. After reviewing some of the more classical cases, we
discuss the case of curves, in particular for K_2 and K_4. We
also discuss a p-adic regulator on K_2 and K_4, which for curves
involves p-adic integration.
Multi-symplectic systems are PDEs which have a (pre)-symplectic form
associated with both temporal and all spatial evolutions. Many
evolutionary Hamiltonian PDEs can be written as multi-symplectic
systems. Symmetries in multi-symplectic systems occur often and lead
naturally to a generalisation of relative equilibria. Such relative
equilibria can correspond to solitary waves or periodic and
quasi-periodic patterns. In this talk, a short introduction to
multi-symplectic systems will be given and it will be indicated how
this structure can be used to derive results about the instability of
solitary waves.
Periodic orbits play an important role in chaotic systems. In low
dimensional Axiom A systems periodic orbit expansions for long time
properties of chaotic systems converge faster than exponentially. I
will describe attempts to extend the theory to cases of nonuniform
hyperbolicity, stochastic perturbations and spatiotemporal chaos.
I will take a careful look at some of our most primitive images of
random phenomena; tossing a coin, rolling a roulette ball, shuffling
cards. In each case, mathematics coupled with practical analysis
shows that while randomness can be approached, usually, it just ain't
so.
In classical Diophantine approximation there are two standards forms
of approximation; the first is to approximate by rational points and
the second by rational hyperplanes. The usual questions which are
asked concern the measure or Hausdorff dimension of the sets of points
which get "close" to infinitely many such objects and in the classical
case these have been almost completely solved. When the same
questions are asked of sets of points restricted to lying on a
manifold the problems become much harder and in the first case (that
of approximating by rational points) very little is known except for
specific manifolds such as the circle or the parabola. The main
problem for this case is to obtain good estimates of how many rational
points with denominators in a certain range lie on (or "very close")
to the manifold. For the second case the picture is far more complete
although there are still some questions remaining. In this talk there
will be a discussion of the two cases and of what is and is not known.
Bounds on the bulk rate of energy dissipation in body-force driven steady
state turbulence are derived directly from the incompressible
Navier-Stokes equations.
We consider flows in 3 spatial dimensions in the absence of boundaries
and derive rigorous {\it a priori} estimates for the time averaged energy
dissipation rate per unit mass, \epsilon, without making any further
assumptions on the flows or turbulent fluctuations.
We prove
\epsilon \le c_1 \nu \frac{U^2}{\ell^2} + c_2 \frac{U^3}{\ell}
where \nu is the kinematic viscosity, U is the root mean square (space
and time averaged) velocity, and \ell is the longest length scale in the
applied forcing function.
The prefactors c_1 and c_2 depend only on the functional shape of
the body-force and not on its magnitude or any other length scales
in the force, the domain or the flow.
We also derive a new lower bound on \epsilon in terms of the magnitude
of the driving force F.
For large Grashof number Gr = F\ell^3/\nu^2, we find
c_3 \frac{\nu F \ell}{\lambda^2} \le \epsilon
where \lambda = \sqrt{\nu U^2/\epsilon} is the Taylor microscale in the
flow and the coefficient c_3 depends only on the shape of the
body-force.
This estimate is seen to be sharp for particular forcing functions
producing steady flows with \frac{\lambda}{\ell} \sim {\cal O}(1) as Gr
goes to infinity.
We interpret both the upper and lower bounds on \epsilon in terms of the
conventional scaling theory of turbulence---where they are seen to be
saturated---and discuss them in the context of experiments and direct
numerical simulations.
An integrable vector-valued function is said to have a polar
factorisation if it can be written as the composition of the gradient
of a convex function with a measure-preserving (that is
"size-preserving") mapping. This concept was introduced by Y. Brenier,
and has been used in diverse applications. We describe one of these,
identification of the trajectory mapping for a model of weather front
formation. Recent work with G.R. Burton has settled the question of
when the factorisation is unique; however existence is still
open. There are integrable functions which do not have polar
factorisations; we present a class of examples. Finally we examine the
case when the integrable vector-valued function has additional
regularity, for example when it is Lipschitz.
One approach to solving the problem of finding a theory that
reconciles quantum mechanics and gravity is based on the causal set
hypothesis, which states that the deep structure of spacetime is
discrete and is what is known as a `partial order' or `poset', a kind
of `extended family tree'. This talk will describe ten reasons to be
optimistic that the approach is on the right track, mentioning some of
the new mathematical challenges that are being thrown up along the
way.
We investigate the existence of embedded trapped modes near an
indentation in a strip wave-guide, which corresponds to a channel of
uniform water depth in water waves and a two dimensional wave- guide
in acoustics. Modes are sought which are either symmetric about the
centreline of the guide and below the first nonzero cut-off for
symmetric wave propagation or anti-symmetric and between the first and
second cut-off for anti-symmetric wave propagation. In spectral
theory, this means that the eigenvalues associated with the trapped
modes are embedded in the continuous spectrum of the relevant
operator.
An eigenfunction expansion for the trapped mode potential is
obtained. A crude approximation is first obtained by drastically
truncating the eigenfunction expansion and a transcendental equation
for the trapped mode frequency is obtained. A full numerical solution
is then obtained by applying Galerkin approach. The known form of
singularity in the velocity at a corner is exploited by expanding the
velocity as a series of ultra-spherical Gegenbauer polynomials
multiplied by a suitable singular function. Results show that the
approximate solutions are very close to the full solutions. For a
given depth of indentation, embedded trapped modes can be found for a
series of discrete values of the length of indentation and the wave
frequency.
Joint work with:
Maureen McIver
In this talk, we consider the solution of large dense systems of
equations that arise from the discretization of boundary element
methods in the solution of electromagnetic scattering problems. In
particular, we will examine techniques for preconditioning the
matrices so that standard iterative methods like GMRES converge
quickly.
We have found that variants of sparse approximate inverse techniques
are the most robust on our target applications and we discuss ways of
making them more robust including employing imaginary shifts.
Since, for very large systems, iterative methods can only really be
viable in a fast multipole framework, we concentrate on the
implementation of our sparse approximate inverse preconditioners in
this context and discuss their scalability on problems of up to over a
million degrees of freedom. We consider accelerating the convergence
by nesting our preconditioned GMRES within outer FGMRES iterations and
show that this can give substantial performance improvement and
greater robustness.
Finally, we examine the use of low rank corrections implemented as an
additional additive preconditioner and show that this can greatly
accelerate the convergence particularly when the first preconditioner
has done a good job of leaving only a few eigenvalues close to zero.
Joint work with:
Bruno Carpentieri and Luc Giraud
Generically, the set of points along which two non-singular vector
fields on the three-sphere are positively (resp. negatively) collinear
form a link. We prove that the two vector fields are isotopic if and
only if the linking number of those links is zero. If we have time,
we will show how use this criterion to give a new proof of a result of
Yano: every non-singular vector field on the three-sphere is isotopic
to a non-singular Morse-Smale vector field.
We consider a geodesic flow with 3 degrees of freedom that is
Liouville integrable but has positive topological entropy. We show
that its Hamiltonian and Quantum monodromy is described by a
hyperbolic matrix from SL(2,Z). The hyperbolicity is responsible for
a rigid spectrum with unbounded degeneracies, related to the number of
solutions of a quadratic diophantine equation. The example can be
generalised with any matrix from SL(2,Z).
Joint work with:
A Bolsinov and AP Veselov
We give a proof of the Poincare conjecture. The proof is inspired by
the beautiful algorithm to recognise the unknot given by Hyam Rubistein
and the proof of this using David Gabai's "thin position" given by Abigail
Thompsom.
The ability to predict the direction of motion of monopolar vortices
moving on a beta plane is of fundamental importance in weather
predictions. Despite the large body of work on the theoretical work
on monopolar vortex dynamics, the models do not generally provide any
real connection between what is observed experimentally or in the
atmosphere. Moreover, most models do not predict a unique vortex
trajectory. Drawing on new detailed experimental observations on
monopolar vortices moving on a topographic beta plane, we extend
Rossby's original inviscid body of monopolar dynamics and show that it
provides reasonable agreement with experimental measurements and a
clearer insight into the controlling physical processes.
Joint work with:
J.B. Flor
The governing equations for fluid flow in a rotating sphere using a
toroidal-poloidal decomposition are sixth order in the meridional
co-ordinate. We show here that we can make use of Fourier series as opposed
to spherical harmonics with a view to numerically modelling non-linear
systems. It is well documented that spherical harmonics, while the obvious
choice for linear analysis, are not suitable for large scale non-linear
models due to the time spent transforming between spectral space and physical
space. Hence, with the option of the FFT, Fourier series are the natural
alternative. We will show that the use of Fourier series does not compromise
accuracy in the attempt to achieve greater numerical efficiency in modelling
the high order equations that govern MHD and convection in spherical systems.
Joint work with:
Keke Zhang
We consider the thermodynamic type limit
of the finite-gap potentials on a special
band/gap scaling of the hyperelliptic
Riemann surface. This limit has a natural
description in stochastic terms and can be
associated with a one-dimensional soliton gas
(homogeneous soliton turbulence).
We also propose a scenario of transition to
the disordered soliton structure from a
deterministic nondecaying initial distribution.
There are numerous interesting physical problems, in the fields of
acoustics, electromagnetism, elasticity, etc., which, when modelled
mathematically, are reduced to Wiener-Hopf equations defined in some
region of complex plane. In simple models this equation is
scalar. However, for complex boundary value problems, this procedure
often leads to a matrix Wiener-Hopf equation. The key step in the
solution of such an equation is to decompose the kernel into a product
of two factors with certain analyticity properties. Although it is
possible to exactly decompose scalar kernels with the use of Cauchy's
Integral Theorem, no procedure has yet been devised to exactly
factorise general matrix kernels.
This research discusses the scattering of plane sound waves by an
infinite grating composed of equally spaced rigid walls by using a
class of matrix kernels, K, which are meromorphic and have the
additional property
K = K^{-1}(Q/\nabla)
where Q has entire elements and \nabla is the determinant of Q (The
simplest such example is the scattering of sound waves in a duct by a
rigid barrier partially obstructing the duct [1]). Amongst authors who
have considered the present problem are Dalrymple and Martin [2] who
considered only normal incidence and Porter and Evans [3] who
considered oblique incidence and unequal spacing. These latter
authors used a suitable eigenfunction expansion and after having the
solution employed Galerkin approximation to get numerical results
accurate up to the three decimal points. They also extended the
problem to consider two identical parallel arrays. The approach used
here makes use of the Khrapkov type matrices and decomposes the
kernel to two factors which are "almost" commutative and have
appropriate algebraic behaviour in respective domains of complex
plane. After the exact decomposition is achieved, the analytical
solution is found by using the well-known procedure of Wiener-Hopf
problems. Some numerical results are presented for re ection and
transmission coefficients. The work in unequal spacing is already in
progress and this method can be applied to many more problems which
will be mentioned in the talk.
References
[1] Erbas, B., Abrahams, I.D., Scattering of Acoustic Waves by a Rigid
Barrier Across a Duct, BAMC 2001, University of Reading.
[2] Dalrymple, R., Martin, P.A., Wave Diffraction Through Offshore Break-
waters, J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Oc. Eng. 116, 727-741 (1990)
[3] Porter, R., Evans, D.V., Wave Scattering by Periodic Arrays of Breakwa-
ters, Wave Motion 23(2), 95-120 (1996)
Joint work with: I David Abrahams
Let R be an associative algebra over an algebraically closed field k,
let F be a family of left R-modules, which are orthogonal points in
the notation of Ringel, and consider the category Mod(F): The finite
length category built on F. The ultimate goal is to construct the
objects of Mod(F), when the family F is given. We introduce some new
methods for this, using Laudal's non-commutative deformations of
modules. We also give an elementary proof of a known criterion for the
category Mod(F) to be uniserial. Since our methods are constructive,
we can construct all indecomposable objects in Mod(F) in this case.
There are some applications to the first Weyl algebra when
char(k)=0. We believe that our methods will be suited to study more
difficult cases, where the obstructions come into play in a more
essential way.
There are many known results concerning the expected number of real
zeros of polynomials with random coefficients. Several types of
polynomials are studied; among them algebraic polynomials are known
most. For these types of polynomials, with sufficiently large degree,
we present the asymptotic value for the expected number of real zeros,
and discuss interesting variations that occur for this asymptotic
value for the different assumptions on the distribution of the
coefficients. There are significant differences for the behaviour of
this expected number of real zeros for different types of
polynomials. We give some of these differences for the cases of random
trigonometric and random hyperbolic polynomials. However, there are
several points of interest shared between purely mathematical
developments and the physical and applied properties of random
polynomials. In particular the distribution of complex roots of random
algebraic polynomials is of joint interest. The results obtained for
random fields could be applied to random polynomials to give a formula
for the expected density of the complex roots. We will discuss a
select few works recently published in this direction.
This study relates to a particular class of problems governed by the
Poisson equation in which the source distribution, i.e. the
nonhomogenous part of the Poisson equation, has to be determined from
data observed over the boundary of the solution domain. This
corresponds to inversely solving the Poisson equation. The Dual
Reciprocity Method (DRM) has been chosen as the solution procedure
since it provides a technique for considering the whole equation with
the nonhomogenous terms expressed in terms of boundary integrals. The
present DRM approach to the solution of the inverse problem is tested
on several test examples that have analytical solutions, using both
exact (error-free) and noisy data. The overdetermined system, obtained
with the inverse problem, is solved using the least square method. Due
to the ill-condition nature of the resulting system of equations, a
regularization procedure, namely the Tikhonov regularization combined
with the discrepancy principle, is also employed.
We are concerned with large scale magnetic field dynamo generation and
propagation of magnetic fronts in turbulent electrically conducting
fluids. An effective equation for the large scale magnetic field is
developed here that takes into account the finite correlation times of
the turbulent flow. We find that the memory effects can drastically
change the dynamo growth rate, in particular, non-local turbulent
transport might increase the growth rate several times compared to the
conventional gradient transport expression.
Joint work with: A Ivanov and A Zubarev
A brief overview of sea ice dynamics models used for climate simulation is
presented and areas requiring further work are described. A novel approach
to modelling the effect of flaws in the ice cover on rheology is outlined
through the use of the structure tensor and closure postulates on its higher
order moments. We model how the anisotropy of the flaw distribution affects
the constitutive law for stress.
Joint work with:
Alexander Wilchinsky
Solutions of the Yang Baxter equations can be found using 2X2 matrices
with quaternionic entries. It is hoped that some of these will yield
better results than the Burau representation of braids and the
Alexander polynomial of knots and links. A computer search is taking
place and has come up with some results.
Reciprocal transformations of Hamiltonian operators of
Dubrovin-Novikov type are investigated. The resulting brackets are
generally nonlocal, possessing a number of remarkable
differential-geometric properties.
Joint work with: MV Pavlov
Artificial kidney dialysis machines are used to treat patients with
kidney failure, due to age, trauma or disease. These devices allow the
removal of low-molecular weight solutes and water to take place
through a semi-permeable membrane separating the patient\s blood from
an artificial dialysate fluid contained within the machine.
We examine a simple channel model of an artificial dialyser. By making
estimates of the model parameters from a clinical dialysis machine, we
simplify the model and construct steady-state asymptotic solutions for
the fluid velocity and solute concentration profiles. These are used
to predict the physiologically important effect on the solute and
water removal rates of the membrane permeability properties, the
solute and fluid input conditions and the dialyser geometry.
By understanding how solute and water removal rates depend on the
dialyser properties, it should be possible in a future study to solve
the inverse problem which would allow solute and solvent fluxes to be
precisely specified by controlling the dialyser parameters in vivo,
potentially improving performance and minimising discomfort in patient
dialysis sessions.
Joint work with:
SM Cox and HM Byrne
Some aspects of the mathematical modelling of human eyes will be
considered. A number of mathematical problems will be posed, including
elastic boundary value problems concerned with scleral buckles, PDE
problems associated with retinal detachment and electromagnetic
problems associated with vortex keratopathy. It will be shown how the
solution of these problems lead to some interesting conclusions about
common diseases and conditions that occur in human eyes.
We study the diffraction of Rayleigh-Lamb waves by a surface breaking
crack in an elastic isotropic plate. The solution of the problem is
obtained by the projection method. The numerical performance of the
method is assessed by energy conservation.
Joint work with:
R Douglas Gregory
We consider the construction of an adaptive controller for a first order
plant achieving a non-zero robustness margin as measured in the sense of
the gap metric. The result is then generalised to the class of relative
degree one, minimum phase systems of known high frequency gain. Further
extensions to higher relative degrees may be discussed.
Advances in engineering down to the nanoscale have not
been followed by comparable advances in theoretical and mathematical
understanding. On these scales one has to deal with large atomistic
systems (ultra-thin films; carbon nanotubes; ...) in a regime
between "atomistic" and "continuum" where collective behaviour dominates
but discreteness effects still play a major role.
The speaker will describe some emerging mathematical work in this
area and in particular discuss an innocent looking model problem,
a 2D elastic mass-spring lattice with nearest and second neighbour
interaction. (Note: Nearest-neighbour models are incapable of capturing
elasticity as they lead to vanishing shear modulus.) Traditionally,
passage to a continuum model is achieved by invoking the Cauchy-Born
rule. It postulates that in response to a small linear displacement of
the boundary of a specimen, all atoms will follow this displacement.
Our analysis shows that depending on the choice of spring constants and
spring equilibrium lengths, the CB rule holds respectively fails.
In the failure region, minimum energy configurations of the atoms
exhibit fine-scale spatial oscillations. In this case, there is still
a limiting continuum theory, but it involves more sophisticated averaging.
Proofs involve adaptation of nontrivial concepts from functional analysis
and the calculus of variations to atomistic systems.
This is joint work with Florian Theil (Warwick) and will appear in
J. Nonl. Sci.
The k-core of a graph is the maximal subgraph of minimum degree at
least k. We are interested in the k-core of the random graph G_{n,m},
where m=cn/2, and in particular in the asymptotic behaviour of its
degree sequence. We show that for any fixed integer d\geq k, the
number of vertices of degree d in the k-core is asymptotically almost
surely equal to n \gamma(c,d)+o(n), and we give a precise estimate for
\gamma(c,d).
We reconsider the problem of calculating a general correlation
function containing arbitrary number of products and ratios of
characteristic polynomials for large random matrices taken form
Gaussian Unitary ensemble (GUE) and from Chiral Gaussian Unitary
ensemble (chGUE). The method suggested by one of us recently (Preprint
arXiv:math-ph/0106006) is shown to be capable of calculation when
reinforced with a generalisation of Duistermaat-Heckman localisation
theorem to integrals over non-compact homogenious Kahler manifolds.
Joint work with:
Eugene Strahov
We examine a generalisation of the susceptible-infected-recovered
(S-I-R) model for the infection dynamics of four competing disease
strains. This model uses a mass-action formulation to derive a system
of ODEs for the dynamics. The four strains are present in one
community of hosts at the same time. The different strains interact
indirectly by the mechanism of cross-immunity; individuals in the host
population may become immune to infection by a particular strain even
if they have only been infected with different but closely related
strains.
Several different models of cross-immunity are compared in the limit where
the lifetime of a host individual is much longer than the typical
infectious period. In this limit an asymptotic analysis of the dynamics of
the models is possible, and we are able to compute the location and nature
of the bifurcations associated with the presence of oscillatory dynamics
observed in previous work by other authors.
When steady solutions of complex physical problems are computed
numerically it is often crucial to compute their stability in
order to, for example, check that the computed solution is
`physical', or carry out a sensitivity analysis, or help understand
complex nonlinear phenomena near a bifurcation point. Usually a
stability analysis requires the solution of an eigenvalue
problem which may arise in its own right or as an appropriate
linearisation. In the case of discretized PDEs the corresponding
matrix eigenvalue problem will often be of generalised form:
Ax=\lambda Mx with A and M large and sparse. In general A is
unsymmetric and M is positive semi-definite.
Only a small number of `dangerous' eigenvalues are usually required,
often those (possibly complex) eigenvalues nearest the imaginary axis.
In this context it is usually necessary to perform `shift-invert'
iterations, which require repeated solution of systems of the form
(A-\sigma M)y = Mx, for some shift \sigma (which may be near
a spectral point) and for various right-hand sides x. In large
applications these systems have to be solved iteratively, requiring
`inner iterations'.
In this talk we will describe recent progress in the construction,
analysis and implementation of fast algorithms for finding such
eigenvalues, utilising domain decomposition techniques for the inner
iterations.
In particular we describe the computation of bifurcations in (2D)
Navier-Stokes problems discretised by mixed finite elements applied to
the velocity-pressure formulation of the problem. We describe the
construction of appropriate parallel preconditioners for the
corresponding (3 X 3 block) shifted systems. These use additive
Schwarz methods and can be applied to any unstructured mesh in 2D (or
also in 3D) and for any selected elements. An important part of the
preconditioner is the adaptive coarsening strategy. At the heart of
this are recent extensions of the Bath domain decomposition code DOUG,
carried out by Eero Vainikko.
Macaulay (1862-1938) was a mathematics teacher for many years, but
he also went on to become Britain's leading algebraist and a major
figure in the theory of polynomial rings. In this talk I shall
describe his life and some of his work, looking at its origins in
geometry (the Riemann-Roch Theorem), his exchanges with Charlotte
Scott, and his response to the work of Lasker that earned him the
respect of Emmy Noether and her school in the 1920s.
A series of experiments will be demonstrated, that show the formation
of shock waves, dead zones and particle free regions during the
three-dimensional flow of granular materials past obstacles. These
flows are interesting in their own right, but also provide a wealth of
constitutive information that can be used to improve mathematical
models. A simplified theory is formulated, which captures the key
physical effects.
Delay differential equations (DDEs) have received a lot of attention
recently, particularly in the modelling of lasers with feedback. One
reason for this is the introduction of continuation software for
DDEs. Adding to this, we developed an algorithm for computing unstable
manifolds in DDEs. We expalin how these new methods can be used to
identify global bifurcations in DDEs. As an example we consider a
semiconductor laser with phase-conjugate feedback.
More specifically, we compute 1D unstable manifolds of saddle periodic
orbits, to show how a torus breaks up culminating in a sudden onset of
chaos due to a boundary crisis.
From its creation by Frobenius in 1896-97 the representation theory
of groups has come to permeate the mathematics and physics of the
20th century. Some examples of this process will be described.
We use a vortex density model to study the distribution of current and
magnetic flux in thin film superconductors. The purpose of the model
is to examine in detail the transition of a thin film from the
superconducting state to the normal state using the the framework of
vortex creep/flow. Understanding this transition is useful in the
design of fault current limiter devices which exploit the properties
of superconductors to protect electrical systems from current surges
(such as lightning strikes and short circuits).
We consider transport currents, applied magnetic fields and the
effects of Joule heating on the system. Below a critical current level
our model produces results in agreement with the Bean model. At
higher current levels we find interesting nonuniform dissipative
current distributions.
The model leads to a boundary value problem for Laplace's equation. We
have found some simple analytical solutions in 2D. The general problem
is solved numerically, by recasting the problem as a singular integral
equation.
Joint work with:
SJ Chapman and SD Howison
In many physical contexts the generation of solitary waves by an
external force can be described by the forced Korteweg-de Vries
equation. In this framework, the typical scenario is the generation of
a train of solitary waves propagating upstream, o localised steady
downstream depression followed by a downstream oscillatory
wavetrain. Here, we extend that model by considering the generation of
solitary waves in an extended Korteweg-de Vries equation, which
contains a cubic term.
Some mathematical problems in the eye are of great medical interest
since their complete understanding would be useful to correct or even
prevent some eye conditions or diseases.
One such problem concerns scleral buckles. A scleral buckle is an
effective method for repairing retinal detachment. It consists of a
band placed around the eye placed where the retina is detached. It
exerts some stress on the eye and hence produces displacements. Such
displacements alter the natural position of the retina-choroid wall
and therefore the focal length of the eye. This may result in
distorted vision when such displacements are big enough.
The aim of our work is to find the maximum stress exerted by a scleral
buckle in the retina-choroid wall, considered as a spherical elastic
membrane, for which the corresponding displacements do not affect the
optical system of the eye. The stress components can be found by
solving \nabla^4\Psi=0 where \Psi is the Airy stress function and
applying the proper boundary conditions for the displacements due to
the presence of the scleral buckle.
This talk presents analysis of electromagnetic and elastic waves
propagating through a doubly periodic array of cylindrical channels in
oblique incidence. A new method, based on a multiple scattering
approach, has been proposed to reduce these spectral problems for
partial differential equations to certain algebraic problems of the
Rayleigh type. We obtain the eigenvalue problem formulations that
enable us to construct the high-order dispersion curves and to study
photonic and phononic bang gap structures in oblique incidence.
Joint work with:
Chris Poulton and Alexander Movchan
The doughnut property is a combinatorial property of sets of real
numbers and like for the Ramsey or the Baire property it is easy to
show that not every set has the doughnut property. One can show that
every set which has the Ramsey or the Baire property also has the
doughnut property. On the other hand, one can show that a finite
support iteration of Cohen forcing, starting from L, yield a model in
which every Sigma-1-2 set has the doughnut property, but there are
Sigma-1-2 sets which have neither the Ramsey nor the Baire property.
In 2D turbulence at large Reynolds number it is known that coherent
vortices often dominate the flow and move under mutual
interactions. The evolution of a Gaussian vortex profile subject to a
weak impulsive strain field was studied by Bassom and Gilbert.
However, few vortices physically have such smooth structure, due to
processes such as vortex stripping. Balmforth, Llewellyn Smith and
Young developed an asymptotic framework to study the evolution of
sharp edged vortices with weak surrounding skirts. With this approach
they discovered a quasi mode with decay rate proportional to the
vorticity gradient in the critical layer. The critical layer is a
result of resonance between the frequency of the mode and the rotation
frequency of the vortex.
But what happens to the stability of the vortex, if the vortex has a
sharp edge but a weak non-smooth `messy' skirt? Whereas Balmforth et
al had constant vorticity gradient in the critical layer we allow
finer structure inside the critical layer. We use their asymptotic
picture but include extra terms in the initial vorticity profile to
allow for extra structure in the critical layer. We derive equations
which we solve numerically and asymptotically for various different
types of fine structure such as bumps, troughs and steps.
We consider the logarithm of the characteristic polynomial of a random
permutation matrix. Using coupling techniques we obtain a central
limit theorem for this quantity which is very similar in form to the
random unitary case. Our result enables us to prove a central limit
theorem for the counting function for the number of eigenvalues in an
interval on the unit circle.
Joint work with:
P Keevash, N O'Connell and D Stark
We present here a continuum model for the flow and deformation of
granular materials. Such materials exhibit a wide variety of behaviour
depending upon their environment and we shall suppose the following
conditions to hold. The grains are envisaged to be densely packed,
with each grain in contact with several neighbours. Individual
contacts are also prolonged, giving rise to non-impulsive contact
forces between neighbouring grains. Further, the material, although
constrained by its environment, is free to flow. We shall assume a
theoretical framework of a rate-independent rigid/plastic material
which satisfies a pressure dependent yield condition containing the
physical parameters of internal friction and cohesion, together with
physically based kinematic equations which encompass shear, dilatation
and rotation and contain a physical parameter governing the
dilatation. The rotation is introduced via a kinematic quantity, the
intrinsic angular velocity, in addition to the usual Eulerian velocity
field and this requires that the Cauchy stress tensor be non-symmetric
and also that the intrinsic angular velocity satisfy an equation
governing the balance of angular momentum.
However, we do not introduce couple stresses, and we may call the
model a reduced Cosserat model. The equations governing planar flows
are hyperbolic and the model is linearly well-posed. In this talk we
consider some properties of the model in preparation for considering
applications.
Many pulmonary diseases cause the smaller airways of the lung to
collapse and become blocked by the liquid that normally coats their
interiors. Motivated by the practical problem of reopening such
collapsed airways, we consider the steady propagation of an air finger
into a buckled elastic tube initially filled with viscous fluid. The
resulting three-dimensional fluid-structure-interaction problem is
solved numerically by a fully-coupled finite element
method. Geometrically non-linear shell theory is used to determine the
deformation of the elastic tube, and the free-surface Stokes equations
are used to describe the dynamics of the fluid.
The generic behaviour of the system is found to be very similar to
that observed in previous two-dimensional models for the steady
propagation of an air finger into a flexible channel. In particular,
we find a two-branch behaviour in the relationship between propagation
speed and bubble pressure, p_b. At high speeds, p_b increases
monotonically with propagation speed, whereas at low speeds, a
decrease in p_b is required to increase the propagation speed. We
present a simple model which explains this behaviour and why it occurs
in both two and three dimensions.
Illustrative flow fields and wall shear stress distributions will be
presented. We find that an increase in surface tension causes an
increase in the bubble pressure required to drive the air finger at a
given speed. Furthermore, we demonstrate that higher bubble pressures
are required to open less strongly buckled tubes. This unexpected
finding could have important physiological ramifications.
Joint work with:
M Heil
Leray's self-similar solution of the Navier-Stokes equations is
defined by
u(x,t) = U (y) / \sqrt{ 2 b (t^*-t)} ~, where
y = x / \sqrt{ 2 b (t^*-t)} , b > 0.
Consider the equation for U(y) in a smooth bounded domain D of R^3
with non-zero boundary condition:
- \nu \triangleup U + b U + b y \cdot \nabla U +
U \cdot \nabla U + \nabla P = 0, y \in D,
\nabla \cdot U = 0 , y \in D ,
U = G(y), y \in \partial D .
We prove an existence theorem for the Dirichlet problem in Sobolev
space W^{1,2}(D). This implies the local existence of a self-similar
solution of the Navier-Stokes equations which blows up at t = t^* with
t^* < +\infty , provided the function G(y) is permissible.
The flow produced by a rotating disc in an otherwise still fluid can
be described by von Karman's similarity solution. This basic flow, in
certain resolved directions, is inflexional and subject to an inviscid
crossflow instability, which includes a set of growing stationary
vortices and also travelling waves. Consideration of the inversion
contours of a Fourier-Laplace transform of the initial value problem
shows that the invisicd problem is also absolutely unstable. Viscous,
Coriolis, streamline curvature and nonparallel terms all enter the
linearized disturbance equations at O(R^{-1}). A fourth order
Orr-Sommerfeld equation can be derived when only the viscous terms are
added to the inviscid terms, allowing predictions to be made at
experimental parameters. Adding also the Coriolis and streamline
curvature terms leads to a sixth order ODE, and is found to introduce
a new mode to the neutral curve for stationary vortices, and to
significantly affect the critical Reynolds number for instability. The
nonparallel terms, although of the same order, and so in principle of
equal importance, are usually neglected because then the disturbance
equations are PDEs. We have obtained numerical solutions to the full
nonparallel equations and apparently discovered a new branch of
stationary vortices. The critical Reynolds number for absolute
instability is also found to be changed significantly. At the time of
writing, an analysis based on matched asymptotic expansions is
underway to discover the origin of this new branch of solutions.
Mathematics graduates in industry, commerce and also those entering
postgraduate study are expected to possess a range of mathematical
abilities that include knowledge and implementation of mathematical
and computational techniques and the development of mathematical
skills. Typically these are delivered through formal lectures and
assessment is normally heavily weighted to formal examinations. It is
widely recognised that some variety of learning and assessment
experiences helps students to develop subject-specific but also
crucially to develop more general graduate skills. Increasingly,
students are selecting their choice of degree to meet the flexible
demands of a changing workplace and well designed MSOR programmes have
the potential to develop a profile of skills abilities alongside the
more traditional subject-specific education.
A compulsory third-year mathematical modelling module "Vocational
Mathematics" has been introduced at Nottingham University. Students
work in groups of 3 or 4 on a succession of three projects to help
them develop a strong skills base in applying and communicating
mathematical problem solving. As a final year exercise, student groups
are expected to function with less staff-directed study than is
normally associated with an individual project, with greater autonomy,
within a shorter timeframe and provide "professional" quality
oral and written reports.
Within this talk, an overview of the module development and student
experiences will be provided alongside examples of implementation and
issues associated with identification of graduate skills, group
project work, oral presentations and written reports.
Spatiotemporal patchiness is manifest in ocean blooms of phytoplankton
on all scales of observation. On small scales the physical features of
the environment such as thermoclines and eddies correspond to
phytoplankton variabliity. Biological interactions are likely to occur
at longer scales of the order of 1 to 100 km (Steele 1978). At these
scales the physical features are less clear and patchiness is likely
to be the result of the interaction between the physical and
biological processes.
We use an excitable medium, two-component phytoplankton-zooplankton
model due to Truscott & Brindley (1994), and incorporate the
dispersion due to ocean currents and eddies into a spatial diffusion
term. A scaling for travelling waves solutions is found, based on the
the magnitude of the diffusion coefficient which is a small
quantity. The analysis is complemented by a numerical study in which
wavetrains and secondary convective instabilities are found. The
scales and propagation speeds are consistent with observations
suggesting that patchiness may be due in part to travelling wave
phenomena.
References
Steele, JH 1978 Some comments on plankton patches. In `Spatial
patterns in plankton communities', ed. H Steele, Plenum Press.
Truscott, JE & Brindley, J 1994 Ocean plankton populations as
excitable media. Bull. Math. Biol. 56, 981--998.
Joint work with:
LA Plumpton
We apply the resulting knowledge on the representation theory of these
groups to investigate certain invariants of unitary block designs. In
particular we find the the ranks (over arbitrary fields) of their
incidence matrices. Some information on the elementary divisors of
these matrices is also given.
This poster presents an analysis of the steady state bifurcation with
icosahedral symmetry. The Equivariant Branching Lemma is used to
predict the generic bifurcating solution branches corresponding to
each irreducible representation of the icosahedral group. The
relevant amplitude equations are deduced from the equivariance
condition, and used to investigate the stability of bifurcating
solutions. It is found that the bifurcation with icosahedral symmetry
can lead to competition between twofold, threefold and fivefold
symmetric structures, and between tetrahedral and threefold symmetric
structures.
This poster presents a simple two-species ripple model with
avalanching. The effect of the avalanching term is investigated
numerically, and is found to be crucial in producing realistic ripple
profiles.
Joint work with: Anita Mehta
Given q, a power of a prime p, denote by F the Galois field GF(q) and,
for n \in N, by E its extension GF(q^n). The Primitive Normal Basis
Theorem states that it is possible to find an element \alpha \in E
that is simultaneously primitive and free over F. It is natural to
ask whether further conditions may be imposed on \alpha. The
PFNT-problem asks: given a finite extension E/F of Galois fields, a
primitive element b in F and a non-zero element a in F, does there
exist a primitive element \alpha \in E, free over F, whose (E,F)-norm
and trace equal b and a, respectively? Equivalently, does there exist
a primitive, free polynomial M(x)=x^n + M_{n-1}x^{n-1}+ ... + M_0
with M_{n-1}=-a and M_0=(-1)^n b? The PFNT problem was solved for n
> 4 by SD Cohen (2000); however his method failed for n=4 and he
conjectured that it might be impractical to expect any progress in the
case n=3. Here, the PFNT-problem is solved for the n=4 case using a
different approach and a proof is outlined for the n=3 case.
Joint work with:
SD Cohen
The deterministic,'bottom-up' method of computational climate
prediction starts from well established principles and equations, but
requires approximations about initial and boundary conditions, about
processes, and in the numerical methods used for discretisation and
for speed of computation. Some of these approximations have now been
studied in detail are well understood, but others are less so, eg the
role of sea ice, or the effects on large scale phenomena of neglecting
or smoothing small scale processes, or the effects of variation in
solar radiation/particles. The verification and thence improvement of
climate models also depends greatly on the ingenious use of good
mathematical 'post-processing'; eg relating time series of the
computations with past data.To be supplied
The multisymplectic formalism provides a powerful approach to partial
differential equations that have a Lagrangian or Hamiltonian
structure. Conservation laws are particularly easy to obtain; indeed,
some of them are encoded within the multisymplectic structure. For
example, in geophysical flows described by the shallow-water and
semi-geostrophic equations, the multisymplectic structure incorporates
conservation of energy and potential vorticity. These conservation
laws can be derived geometrically, without using symmetries and
Noether's Theorem.
Many multisymplectic systems have conservation laws in addition to
those that are encoded in the structure. This talk introduces a method
that uses symmetries to obtain such conservation laws directly from
the structure. The method is free from the restrictions of Noether's
Theorem.