Granular Physics

Coordinators: Robin Ball, Thomas C. Halsey, V. Kumaran

One of the most interesting and unexpected new frontiers of physical science is the study of granular matter: systems made up of classical particles, often of macroscopic size, that interact predominantly by contact forces with one another. Examples include sand on a beach, grain in a hopper, pills in a bottle, or toner in a Xerox machine. Such systems will be the focus of a workshop entitled "Granular Physics," to be held June 20-23, 2005 as part of the Spring 2005 program "Granular Physics" at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The workshop will address a variety of theoretical and experimental issues in granular physics, including the dynamics and rheology of granular flow with and without interstitial fluids, granular statics and aging, the statistical mechanics of granular gases and fluids, and applications of granular physics to problems of geophysical and industrial interest. We especially hope to bring together practitioners from a wide variety of fields to discuss these latter applications.

Confirmed speakers include:

Bob Behringer(Duke)
Paul Chaikin(Princeton/NYU)
Doug Durian(Penn)
Robert Ecke(Los Alamos)
Deniz Ertas(ExxonMobil)
Gary Grest(Sandia)
Christine Hrenya(Colorado)
Herbert Huppert (Cambridge)
James Jenkins(Cornell)
Devang Khakhar(Mumbai)
Stephan Koehler (Emory)
Jorge Kurchan(ESPCI)
Arshad Kudrolli(Clark)
Wolfgang Losert(Maryland)
Michel Louge(Cornell)
Fred Mackintosh(Amsterdam)
L. Mahadevan(Harvard)
Baruch Meerson (Hebrew Univ.)
Namiko Mitarai(Kyushu Univ.)
Narayanan Menon(Massachusetts)
Mario Nicodemi(Naples)
Peter Schiffer(Penn State)
Salvatore Torquato(Princeton)