http://www.physics.umn.edu/rss/ Events for the week of Monday, November 23rd 2009 en-us http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3704 <i>There will be no seminar this week.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3704 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3707 <i>There will be no journal club this week.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3707 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3699 <i>Speaker:</i> Professor Jorge Vinals, McGill University<br><i>Subject:</i> Pattern formation in extended systems.<br><br><div class="wikitext"><p>The evolution of systems driven outside of thermodynamic equilibrium is characterized by strong nonlinearity and the formation of complex spatio-temporal patterns. We illustrate several key concepts by focusing on three prototypical situations: Rayleigh-Benard convection, Faraday waves, and defect motion in soft matter. In the first case, we discuss the appearance of non variational effects in an otherwise overdamped dynamical system, and how they lead to spiral defect chaos, an extended spatio temporally chaotic state. In the second, weak dissipation effects in a near Hamiltonian system account for the formation of quasi crystalline patterns on the surface of a vibrated fluid layer. In the latter case, we discuss topological defect motion in modulated phases, and mechanisms underlying the emergence of long range order.</p> </div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3699 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3708 <i>Speaker:</i> Lei Dai, University of Minnesota<br><i>Subject:</i> Wave dynamics in the geomagnetic tail<br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3708 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3710 <i>To be announced.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3710 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3711 <i>There will be no seminar this week.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3711 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3703 <i>There will be no seminar this week.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3703 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3488 <i>No colloquium this week. Thanksgiving.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3488 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3554 <i>There will be seminar this week.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3554 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3474 <i>There will be no seminar this week.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3474 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3700 <i>There will be seminar this week.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3700 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3541 <i>No colloquium this week.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3541 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3702 <i>There will be no colloquium this week.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3702 http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3701 <i>There will be no seminar this week.</i><br><br><div class="wikitext"></div><br> http://www.physics.umn.edu/calendar/spa.all/thisweek/index/calendar.html?item=3701