Quantum Methods for Classical Physics

John L. Cardy

Non-equilibrium processes in classical statistical mechanics often exhibit anomalous long-time behavior due to fluctuation effects. Examples are reaction-diffusion processes which can show dramatic slowing down due to spatial correlations. Such effects can be hard to analyze. In this talk I show how there is a strong similarity between such problems and quantum many-body physics, and give some simple examples of how this analogy can be exploited.

The P/T Colloquium is
typically held each
Thursday, 3:45–5:00 PM.
Refreshments are served
at 3:15 PM.