Understanding Glassy Phenomena in Materials

by Prof. David Sherrington (Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics University of Oxford)

Thursday 17 Nov 2011, 15:00 → 17:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Rasetti (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi)

This talk will consider the effects of quenched disorder (alloying) in structurally deformable materials with a particular orientation towards glassy behaviour, using minimalist modelling and mappings to analogues of spin glasses and random field magnets. The materials systems to be considered are (i) martensitic (shape-memory) alloys and (ii) relaxor ferroelectrics. As well as spin glass experience bearing on the behaviour of the materials systems, the study suggests new issues for spin glass/random field magnets and new laboratories to study spin models.