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Mazen Al-Ghoul
Associate Professor (Chairperson)
Chemical Physics
B.Sc., American University of Beirut (1992);
Ph.D., McGill University (1997); Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University
(1997-98).
Personal
Web Page
Research
The general theme of research is theoretical
studies in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, extended irreversible
thermodynamics for systems far removed from equilibrium, generalized hydrodynamics,
and stochastic systems. In these investigations, formal theories are first
developed and then they are studied by means of suitable numerical methods
for computation of various thermodynamic, conformational, and transport
properties of fluids. The Nonlinear transport processes that are of particular
interest to us include:
- Shock wave structures in molecular gases. These are
being studied as applications of the nonlinear generalized hydrodynamic
theories that are recently developed.
- Nonequilibrium partition function in the presence
of a heat flux. Such a function is evaluated using parallel Monte
Carlo methods.
- Flow of gases in microchannels. This type of flows
is a high-Knudsen number flow where present continuum theories seem
inadequate to describe. We develop generalized hydrodynamic equations
to study the problem.
- Efficiency of nonlinear chemical oscillators driven
by white and colored noise. In this project, we use analytical methods
from stochastic calculus and we derive special numerical methods to
solve the stochastic differential equations.
- Reaction-diffusion equations. We also model Liesegang
patterns using reaction-diffusion equation and we study the effect
of the electric field of such patterns. The numerical results are
compared with experiments carried at the Department.
Selected Publications
- Dynamics and dissipation of externally forced system,
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP) 2, 3773 (2000).
- Front Propagation in Patterned Precipitation 1. Simulation
of a Migrating Co(OH)2 Liesegang Pattern, Journal
of Physical Chemistry 105(34), 8053-8058 (2001) (With R. Sultan).
- Generalized hydrodynamic theory of shock waves: Mach
number dependence of Inverse Shock Width for Nitrogen Gas, Physical
Review Letters 2001, 86, 4294 (With B.C. Eu).
- Generalized Hydrodynamic Theory of Shock Waves in
Rigid Diatomic Gases, Physical Review E 2001, 64, 046303 (With B.C.
Eu).
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