Session L4: Onsager, Heineman and Metropolis Prize Session

Lars Onsager Prize Talk: 1+1d conformal field theories as natural languages for asymptotically large-scale quantum computing

An abstract argument is offered that the ideal physical systems for asymptotically large-scale quantum computers are near-critical quantum circuits, critical in the bulk, whose bulk universality classes are described by 1+1d conformal field theories. One in particular -- the Monster conformal field theory -- is especially ideal, because all of its bulk couplings are irrelevant.   

Lars Onsager Prize Talk: String Theory and Statistical Physics

We will give an overview of some of the connections that have been found between concepts in string theory and in statistical physics.   

Nicholas Metropolis Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Work in Computational Physics Talk: Elasto-Plastic Modeling of Steady Granular Flow

Despite their ubiquity in day-to-day life, granular materials have surprisingly complicated flow properties. This talk constructs and tests a general continuum model for dense granular matter, which predicts the stress and velocity profiles in well-developed flows. Recent models for granular elasticity (Jiang and Liu 2003) and rate-sensitive plastic flow (Jop et al. 2006) are reformulated and combined into one universal elasto-plastic law, capable of determining flowing regions and stagnant zones simultaneously in any arbitrary 3D flow geometry. To merge the responses, we enforce a Kroner-Lee decomposition and constrain the constitutive laws to obey necessary physical principles. The model is numerically implemented as a VUMAT in ABAQUS/Explicit, and results are directly compared to experiments and discrete particle simulations in several inhomogeneous flow geometries. We conclude with an evaluation of the overall breadth of the model, and provide preliminary arguments for how to enhance the description using non-local quantities.