PHYSICAL MATHEMATICS SEMINAR TOPIC: 2-D FLUID DYNAMICS AND THE INVERSE GRAVITATIONAL PROBLEM SPEAKER: DR. DARREN CROWDY Imperial College United Kingdom ABSTRACT: In this talk we demonstrate how an analogy with the inverse gravitational problem (i.e. the problem of reconstructing the shape of a massive object from knowledge of its far-field gravitational potential) can be used to gain analytical insight (often in the form of exact results) into diverse physically-important problems in two-dimensional fluid dynamics. The discussion will include (a) free boundary problems (including Hele-Shaw flows and viscous sintering (Stokes) flows) (b) coherent vortical structures observed in forced 2-D turbulence (in particular,multipolar vortices such as tripoles, triangular vortices etc.) DATE: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1999 TIME: 2:30 PM LOCATION: Building 2, Room 338 Refreshments will be served at 3:30 PM in Building 2, Room 349 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Mathematics Cambridge, MA 02139