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SUMMARY:Gelation phenomena in cluster-cluster aggregation - Colm Connaught
 on (Mathematics Institute and Centre for Complexity Science\, University o
 f Warwick)
DTSTART:20120117T143000Z
DTEND:20120117T153000Z
UID:TALK34914@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Christian Franzke
DESCRIPTION:Consider a large cloud of particles which are moved around in 
 space by a\nrandom transport\nprocess such as diffusion. If these particle
 s are "sticky" so that they\nclump together\nirreversibly upon contact the
 n the resulting distribution of cluster\nsizes evolves\nin time since smal
 ler clusters stick to each other to produce larger\nones. The statistical\
 ndynamics of such sticky particles has applications in surface physics\,\n
 colloids\, granular\nmaterials\, bio-physics and atmospheric science. It a
 lso provides a rich\nvariety of\nnon-equilibrium phenomena for theoretical
  analysis. One of the most\nstriking of these\nphenomena is the so-called 
 gelation transition which\, roughly speaking\,\ncorresponds to the\ngenera
 tion of clusters of infinite size in a finite time. In this talk\,\nI will
  discuss\nthe scaling theory of cluster aggregation at the level of mean f
 ield\ntheory and explain\nthe  meaning of the gelation transition. At the 
 end I will  discuss the\nsomewhat mysterious\nphenomenon of "instantaneous
 " gelation and its relation to some problems\nin cloud physics.
LOCATION:British Antarctic Survey\, Room 330B
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