Sidney Redner PhD, Physics, M.I.T. 1977
Physics Department Metcalf Science Center - Room 317 590 Commonwealth Avenue Boston MA 02215 (617) 353-2618 (617) 353-9393 (FAX) redner@sid.bu.edu

Research Interests

Hi! I am a Physics Professor in the Boston University Physics Department. My research field is statistical mechanics and theoretical condensed-matter physics. Within this broad classification, I have several specific interests including non-equilibrium stochastic processes, chemical kinetics, and classical transport and non-linear processes in disordered media.

Stochastic processes underlie a wide variety of non-equilibrium physical phenomena, such as the kinetics of chemical reactions. Some of my research has been devoted to understand the dynamics of disparate classes of reactions, such as aggregation, catalysis, recombination, and trapping. A crucial feature is that spatial fluctuations in the reactant densities can play a critical role in influencing the rate of various chemical reactions. For example, in competitive reactions between two equivalent species, an initially homogeneous system can evolve into a continuously coarsening mosaic of single species domains. The rate of reaction is then profoundly affected by this spatial organization and the concomitant coarsening processes. Some of the insights gained from these investigations are being adapted to account for co-operative and competitive social and economic phenomena which can be described within the rubric of stochastic reaction models.

Another research focus is on dynamical processes in disordered media. For example, by monitoring the spread of dynamically-neutral Brownian tracer particles within a fluid which flows through a porous medium, one gains fundamental insights about the structure of the medium itself. My past research has helped elucidate this hydrodynamic ``dispersion'' process in which competition between the flow and molecular diffusion leads to new types of stochastic transport laws. This work is being extended to non-linear processes, such as the plugging of porous media by the filtering of "dirt", or suspended tracer particles, as a dirty fluid passes through a porous medium. These removed particles gradually plug the pore space, giving rise to feedback between transport and the filtration process itself. Theoretical work on this problem is in its initial stages.

Sample publications

Further information is available at the CBD ongoing research pages. A larger list of Dr. Redner's publications is also available.

How Popular is Your Paper? An Empirical Study of the Citation Distribution, S. Redner, cond-mat/9804163, European Physical Journal B, 4, 131-134 (1998).

Gradient Clogging in Depth Filtration, S. Datta and S. Redner, cond-mat/9801163, Phys. Rev. E 58, R1203-1206 (1998).

Logarithmic Islanding in Submonolayer Epitaxial Growth, P. L. Krapivsky, J. F. F. Mendes, and S. Redner, cond-mat/9712072, European Physical Journal B, 4, 401-404 (1998).

Alternating Kinetics of Annihilating Random Walks Near a Free Interface, L. Frachebourg, P. L. Krapivsky, and S. Redner, Journal of Physics A 31, 2791 (1998).

Survival Probability in a Random Velocity Field, S. Redner, Phys. Rev. E 56, 4967 (1997).

Slowly Divergent Drift in the Field-Driven Lorentz Gas, P. L. Krapivsky and S. Redner, Phys. Rev. E 55, 6684 (1997).

Aging and its Distribution in Coarsening Processes, L. Frachebourg, P. L. Krapivsky, and S. Redner, Phys. Rev. E 55, 6684 (1997).

Two Scales in Asynchronous Ballistic Annihilation, E. Ben-Naim, S. Redner, and P. L. Krapivsky, Journal of Physics A 29, L561 (1996).

Transitional Aggregation Kinetics in Dry and Damp Environments, P. L. Krapivsky and S. Redner, Phys. Rev. E 5, 3553 (1997).

Kinetics of a Diffusive Capture Process: Lamb Besieged by a Pride of Lions, P. L. Krapivsky and S. Redner, Journal of Physics A 29, 5347 (1996).