Thomas C. Spencer

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Thomas C. Spencer (born December 24, 1946 in New York City ) is an American mathematical physicist who mainly works in constructive quantum field theory and mathematical statistical mechanics.

Spencer received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968 and received his PhD in 1972 from New York University with James Glimm ( Perturbation of the quantum field-Hamiltonian ). He was then until 1975 at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University and 1974/75 Fellow at Harvard University . From 1975 to 1977 he was an associate professor at Rockefeller University , from 1978 to 1980 professor at Rutgers University and then until 1986 at the Courant Institute. From 1972 to 1974 he was at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he has been a professor since 1987.

Spencer is known for his mathematical investigations into the theory of phase transitions , partly in collaboration with Barry Simon and Jürg Fröhlich (e.g. existence of the Kosterlitz- Thouless transition in two-dimensional models such as the "plane rotator" ( XY model ) and the Coulomb -Gas, with Fröhlich and Simon existence of phase transitions in systems with continuous symmetry and at least three dimensions). Spencer and coworkers were able to prove mathematically “universality” (independence of some critical exponents from disturbances of the model parameters) in the two-dimensional Ising model. He also examined partial stochastic differential equations, worked on turbulence , chaotic dynamic systems, random matrices and supersymmetric path integrals that are used in disordered solids (localization theory).

In 1976 he received a research grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation ( Sloan Research Fellowship ). In 1987 he gave the Gibbs Lecture of the American Mathematical Society ( Schrödinger operators and dynamical systems ). In 1997 he and Jürg Fröhlich received the Dannie Heineman Prize for mathematical physics . He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1999 . In 1986 he was invited speaker at the ICM in Berkeley ( Random and quasiperiodic Schrödinger operators ). In 2010 he was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences . In 2015 he received the Henri Poincaré Prize .

literature

  • J. Fröhlich , T. Spencer: Phase transitions in statistical mechanics and quantum field theory. In: Maurice Lévy, Pronob Mitter (Ed.) New developments in Quantum Field Theory and statistical mechanics. Cargèse 1976 (= NATO Advanced Study Institutes Series. Series B: Physics. Vol. 26 = Proceedings of the Cargèse Summer Institute. 1976). Plenum Press, New York NY et al. 1977, ISBN 0-306-35726-7 , pp. 79-130.
  • J. Fröhlich, T. Spencer: Absence of diffusion in the Anderson tight binding model for large disorder or low energy , Comm. Math. Phys., Vol. 88, 1983, pp. 151-184
  • T, Spencer: A mathematical approach to universality in two dimensions. In: Physica A. Vol. 279, 2000, ISSN  0378-4371 , pp. 250-259.
  • J. Fröhlich, B. Simon, T. Spencer: Infrared bounds, phase transitions and continuous symmetry breaking. In: Communications in Mathematical Physics. Vol. 50, No. 1, 1976, ISSN  0010-3616 , pp. 79-95.

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ Journal of Mathematical Physics, Vol. 14, 1973, p. 823
  2. ↑ Fröhlich, Spencer, Physical Review Letters Vol. 46, 1981, p. 1006, abstract
personal data
SURNAME Spencer, Thomas C.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American physicist
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City