Alexei Marchenkov's research group is in the start-up stage. The main research topic for this newly established group can be described as mesoscopic energy and mass transport. The group focuses on the physics of reduced-dimensional mass and heat flow, and thermal equilibration. This criterion is met in structures with typical dimensions less than several hundred nanometers and at temperatures below 1 Kelvin. In this regime, mass and heat flow, and thermal equilibration become mesoscopic and should ultimately proceed by the exchange of individual quanta.
Special attention is given to superconductivity in high magnetic fields.
This program involves strong connections with experimental work being performed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, at Princeton University, at the University of California at Los Angeles, and Boston College. A program on classical and quantum biophysical phenomena in DNA molecules is also being developed. Michael Schatz studies pattern formation in systems in nature. A goal is to understand the fundamental mechanisms of pattern formation by studying experiments in fluid flows. Light curve solutions of photometric data provide information about the stellar system and the individual components, such as the luminosities, diameters, temperatures, and masses.