PHYSICAL MATHEMATICS SEMINAR


TOPIC:		FRACTAL PATTERNS AS ITERATIONS OF CONFORMAL MAPS


SPEAKER:	BENNY DAVIDOVITCH
		Weizmann Institute

Abstract:

In this talk I will consider fractal growth processes in 2-D with an
emphasis on the well known diffusion-limited-aggregation (DLA) model.  I
will present a new formalism to describe the phenomeonon which is based on
the evolution of the conformal map from a fixed smooth mathematical curve
(such as the unit circle) to the growing cluster.  The analytic power of
this method will be used to establish a renormalization scheme by which
the fractal dimension of the asymptotic cluster is extracted from very
early stages of the growth, when the groemtry of the growing object is
still smooth.

DATE:		TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2000

TIME:		2:30 PM

LOCATION:	Building 2, Room 338


Refreshments will be served at 3:30 PM in Room 2-349

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Mathematics
Cambridge, MA  02139