Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 232-243).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Physics, December 2003. / CD-ROM includes PDF files of figures 2.1-4.7. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-58). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

Thesis (Ph. D.) in Physics--University of Maine, 2001. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-102).

Not available

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Physics / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Physics / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis studies deformation quantization and its application to contact interactions and systems with dissipation. We consider the subtleties related to quantization when contact interactions and boundaries are present. We exploit the idea that discontinuous potentials are idealizations that should be realized as limits of smooth potentials. The Wigner functions are found for the Morse potential and in the proper limit they reduce to the Wigner functions for the infinite wall, for the most general (Robin) boundary conditions. This is possible for a very limited subset of the values of the parameters -- so-called fine tuning is necessary. It explains why Dirichlet boundary conditions are used predominantly. Secondly, we consider deformation quantization in relation to dissipative phenomena. For the damped harmonic oscillator we study a method using a modified noncommutative star product. Within this framework we resolve the non-reality problem with the Wigner function and correct the classical limit. / iii, 188 leaves ; 29 cm

No description available.

This thesis numerically solves the tensor order parameter continuum theory equations for nematic liquid crystals to investigate liquid crystal texturing mechanisms during an isotropic to nematic phase transition in a bulk unstable isotropic phase and next to solid surfaces. The Time Dependent Ginsburg Landau equation with a Landau de Gennes Helmholtz free energy density description is used to predict the shapes, textures and defect mechanisms that occur in the expanding droplets and films of a 4'-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (5CB) nematic phase immediately after their nucleation from an unstable isotropic phase, due to a temperature quench. To create a robust simulation method able to tackle high curvature, defect nucleation, heterogeneous substrates and phase ordering interfaces, particular attention was paid to adapting the mathematical model and computational methods to what was previously known about the nucleation and growth events that occur experimentally during a bulk 5CB isotropic to nematic phase transition and next to decorated solid surfaces. The numerical simulations provide detailed predictions about (i) growth rates for different temperature quenches, (ii) structure of the isotropic-nematic interface, (iii) shapes of expanding nano and submicron nematic droplets, (iv) texturing within growing nano and submicron nematic droplets, (v) a new defect formation mechanism called "interfacial defect shedding", and (vi) the effect of contact angle and interface curvature next to a solid surface with anchoring switches. The main contributions of this thesis are its detailed predictions that emerge from the liquid crystal simulation results, the careful adaptation of the mathematical model and numerical method to what is currently known about early stage growth in a nematic liquid crystal phase, and the validation of new theory by the simulation results.