Session F1: Invited Session: Physics from the Laboratory to the Universe: Davisson-Germer/Heineman/Onsager/Lilienfeld Prizes

Davisson-Germer Prize in Atomic or Surface Physics Lecture: Line 'Em All Up: Macromolecular Assembly at Liquid Interfaces

Advances in our molecular level understanding of the ubiquitous fluid interface comprised of a hydrophobic fluid medium, and an aqueous solution of soluble ions and solutes has been slow until recently. This more recent upsurge in interest and progress comes from advances in both experimental and computational techniques as well as the increasingly important role that this interface is playing in such areas as green chemistry, nanoparticle synthesis, improved oil and mineral recovery and water purification. The presentation will focus on our most recent efforts in understanding (1) the molecular structure of the interface between two immiscible liquids, (2) the penetration of aqueous phase ions into the interfacial region and their effect on its properties, and (3) the structure and dynamics of the adsorption of surfactants, polymers and nanoparticles at this interface. To gain insights into these processes we use a combination of vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy, surface tension measurements using the pendant drop method, and molecular dynamics simulations. The results demonstrate that weak interactions between interfacial oil and water molecules create an interface that exhibits a high degree of molecular structuring and ordering, and with properties quite different than what is observed at the air-water interface. As a consequence of these interfacial oil-water interactions, the interface provides a unique environment for the adsorption and assembly of ions, polymers and nanoparticles that are drawn to its inner-most regions. Examples of our studies that provide new insights into the unique nature of adsorption, adsorption dynamics and macromolecular assembly at this interface will be provided.   

Lars Onsager Prize Lecture: Statistical Dynamics of Disordered Systems

The properties of many systems are strongly affected by quenched disorder that arose from their past history but is frozen on the time scales of interest. Although equilibrium phases and phase transitions in disordered materials can be very different from their counterparts in pure systems, the most striking phenomena involve non-equilibrium dynamics. The state of understanding of some of these will be reviewed including approach to equilibrium in spin glasses and the onset of motion in driven systems such as vortices in superconductors or earthquakes on geological faults. The potential for developing understanding of short-term evolutionary dynamics of microbial populations by taking advantage of the randomness of their past histories and the biological complexities will be discussed briefly.   

Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics Prize Lecture: Correlation Functions in Integrable Models: Ising Model and Monodromy Preserving Deformation

Studies on integrable models in statistical mechanics and quantum field theory originated in the works of Bethe on the one-dimensional quantum spin chain and the work of Onsager on the two-dimensional Ising model. I will talk on the discovery in 1977 of the link between quantum field theory in the scaling limit of the two-dimensional Ising model and the theory of monodromy preserving linear ordinary differential equations. This work was the staring point of our journey with Michio Jimbo in integrable models, the journey which finally led us to the exact results on the correlation functions of quantum spin chains in 1992.   

Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics Prize Lecture: Correlation Functions in Integrable Models II: The Role of Quantum Affine Symmetry

Since the beginning of 1980s, hidden infinite dimensional symmetries have emerged as the origin of integrability: first in soliton theory and then in conformal field theory. Quest for symmetries in quantum integrable models has led to the discovery of quantum groups. On one hand this opened up rapid mathematical developments in representation theory, combinatorics and other fields. On the other hand it has advanced understanding of correlation functions of lattice models, leading to multiple integral formulas in integrable spin chains. We shall review these developments which continue up to the present time.   

Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize Lecture: Mapping the Universe: Physics Writ Large

The age of mapping the universe began in earnest in the late twentieth century. I will describe the enormous strides we have made in mapping the galaxy distribution and in understanding its nature and history. I will show how techniques for measuring the (primarily dark) matter distribuion in massive systems of galaxies are an astrophysical route to tests of fundamental physics.