Classical chaos was famously described by Edward Lorenz (of the "butterfly effect" fame) as the situation "when the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future". In this lecture, the speaker will illustrate that by some examples and also, for contrast, show completely integrable systems (that is "predictable" systems).
How does chaos manifest itself in quantum mechanics? So far, mathematical studies have mostly focused on consequences of the underlying classical chaos in quantized systems. These consequences can be seen for both closed and open quantum systems and range from equidistribution of high energy quantum states (closed systems) to fractal statistics of decaying states (open systems). The speaker will also try to address Lorenz's description of chaos in the quantum setting.
About the speaker
Prof Maciej Zworski received his PhD in Mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989, and was an Assistant Professor there until 1992. He had been faculty at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Toronto. In 1998, he joined the University of California at Berkeley and is currently the Professor of Mathematics.
Prof Zworski’s research interests include microlocal analysis, scattering theory, and partial differential equations. He is editor of the journals including Analysis & PDE, American Journal of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics Research eXpress and Methods and Applications of Analysis, etc.
Prof Zworski received numerous awards including the Coxeter-James Prize from the Canadian Mathematical Society and Jon A. Bucsela Prize in Mathematics. He was also elected the Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
For attendees’ attention
The lecture is free and open to all. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.
