Physics (Internal)

Correlated percolation

This event is part of the Biophysics/Condensed Matter Seminar Series.

Abstract: Percolation is the study of connected structures in random networks. If the random network consists of classical resistors, there exists a critical concentration of resistors above which the network conducts as a whole, due to the presence of a spanning connected structure, and below which it does not. If there are no constraints on the assemblage of resistors, then the onset of
a spanning connected structure exhibits a continuous phase transition. Inspired by the onset of rigidity in amorphous solids, there exists several newer classes of percolation models where constraints on the assemblage of the network results in a discontinuous onset of the spanning connected structure. We shall present results from these newer models, dubbed correlated
percolation models, and discuss potential application to amorphous solids and to classical and quantum resistor networks with correlated randomness.