Quantized Flux in Tightly Knotted and Linked Systems

International Scientific Committee: Natalia G. Berloff (DAMTP, Cambridge), Jason Cantarella (University of Georgia),

Anne-Christine Davis (DAMTP, Cambridge), Thomas W. Kephart (Vanderbilt University),

Paul Sutcliffe (Durham University), and Tanmay Vachaspati (Arizona State University)

in association with the Newton Institute programme Topological Dynamics in the Physical and Biological Sciences
(16 July - 21 December 2012)

Poster Session | Programme | Participants | Application | Accommodation and Costs| Group Photograph

Many systems contain flux tubes which tighten due to their own tension. This workshop will study all aspects of tightly knotted and linked systems which support quantized flux tubes. The systems studied will range over, but not be limited to, superconductors, cosmic strings, and gauge theories, such as quantum chromodynamics. Some topics to be considered will be:

• the energy spectrum of knots and links;
• mathematical and physical aspects of tightening;
• relaxation to local and global minima;
• topological aspects of stability related to helicity, quantized helicity and their generalizations;
• curvature corrections, distortion and other physical corrections;
• topology change and the dynamics of flux tube decay, from quantum reconnection and tunneling to monopole-anti-monopole pair production;
• universality aspects of tightly knotted/linked systems of quantized flux, from knotted flux tubes in superconductors to glueballs in QCD.

Advisors:

• Konrad Bajer (University of Warsaw)
• Yoshifumi Kimura (Nagoya University)
• Keith Moffatt (University of Cambridge): Topological jumps in constrained relaxation processes
• Andrzej Stasiak (University of Lausanne)

Invited Speakers:

• Ana Achucarro (Leiden University)
• Petr M. Akhmet'ev (Moscow State University)
• Brian Anderson (Arizona State University)
• Egor Babaev (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
• Carlo Barenghi (University of Newcastle)
• Richard Battye (University of Manchester)
• Michael Berry (University of Bristol)
• Simon Blatt (University of Warwick)
• Jakob Bohr (Denmark Technical University)
• Roman Buniy (Arizona State University)
• Jason Cantarella (University of Georgia)
• Yi-Zen Chu (University of Pennsylvania)
• Edmund Copeland (University of Nottingham)
• Yves Couder (Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes)
• Michael Duff (Imperial College London)
• Vladimir Eltsov (Helsinki University of Technology)
• Claus Ernst (Western Kentucky University)
• Jason Fleischer (Princeton University)
• Andrej Golov (University of Manchester)
• Richard Haley (Lancaster University)
• Derek Harland (Durham University)
• Mark Hindmarsh (University of Sussex)
• Juha Jaykka (NORDITA)
• Louis Kauffman (University of Illinois at CHicago)
• Bob Kerr (University of Warwick)
• Rafal Komendarczyk (Tulane University)
• Steffen Krusch (University of Kent)
• Carlos Martins (University of Porto)
• Matt Mastin (University of Georgia)
• Joe Niemela (ITCP)
• Antti Niemi (Universite de Tours)
• Muneto Nitta
• Jun O'Hara (Tokyo Metropolitan University)
• Heinrich Paes (Technical University of Dortmund)
• R. Jason Parsley (Wake Forest University)
• George Pickett (Lancaster University)
• Levon Pogosian (Simon Fraser University)
• Nick Proukakis (Newcastle University)
• Philipp Reiter (University of Freiburg)
• Renzo Ricca (Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca)
• Jonathan Robbins (University of Bristol)
• Joao Rosa(University of Aveiro)
• Mairi Sakellariadou (Kings College London)
• Hayder Salman (East Anglia)
• Clayton Shonkwiler (University of Georgia)
• Martin Speight (University of Leeds)
• Daniele Steer(Universite Paris-Diderot)
• Satoshi Tanda (Hokkaido University)
• Tigran Tchrakian (National University of Ireland)
• Neil Turok (Perimeter Institute)
• Jon Urrestilla (University of the Basque Country)
• Tanmay Vachaspati (Arizona State University)
• Joe Vinen (University of Birmingham)
• Mikhail Volkov (University of Tours)
• Heiko von der Mosel (RWTH Aachen University)
• Denis Weaire (Trinity College Dublin)

This workshop is supported by