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a friendly space to explore exciting research
Thursdays at noon, June 4th through August 6th
West Hall 335
Free lunch and coffee provided before every session!
This Week's Speaker: Trevor Teague
Excluded Volume and the Geometry of “Where Can’t It Go?”
Trevor Teague
Department of Physics
Everyday life is governed by the simple observation that objects can't freely pass through one another. We take this fact into account when we stock our shelves, pack our trunks, and navigate the world around us. However, despite its apparent simplicity, formalizing the idea of the region of space one object can't occupy due to the presence of others is a challenge touching many beautiful vistas of geometry. In this talk, I'll show how this idea of the excluded volume between two objects has scientific applications ranging from robotic path planning to ordering transitions of liquid crystals. I'll review techniques for actually calculating the excluded volume and describe how it can be used to rationalize phase transitions, including the crystallization of hard particles and the percolation of regular polyhedra.
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