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Dean's Seminar: "Are We There Yet? Simulating Rare Events in Physical Systems"

How do cracks start in metals? How do proteins fold? How reliable are nano-devices? Hypothetically, these questions could be answered by simulating the interactions and evolution of all of the atoms and electrons describing each system. Unfortunately, many of these problems involve rare, rapid transitions from one arrangement of the atoms to another. The rarity of these rearrangements makes the direct simulation of huge numbers of atoms impractical, and has prompted the development of approximations to accelerate the computations. 

In this talk, Gideon Simpson, PhD, will discuss the mathematical challenges in developing and analyzing these approximation algorithms, ensuring they are faithful to physics.