Soft Matter Seminar: “Shape Optimization Problems in Soft Matter”

The Syracuse University Department of Physics Soft Matter Group is pleased to welcome Dr. Timothy Atherton, Professor of Physics & Astronomy at Tufts University in Medford, MA for his talk titled, “Shape optimization problems in Soft Matter.”

An emerging theme across many domains of science and engineering is materials that can change shape, often dramatically. Shape may even be a programmable quantity, where local properties of the material may be adjusted to promote a desired morphology. Determining the final structure of such materials involves solving an optimization problem whereby a given objective functional, such as an energy, that promotes shape deformation must be minimized. Optimization with respect to both the shape of the domain and auxiliary fields describing the structure or quantities such as electromagnetic fields. Constraints may also be present, including fixing the volume or excluding the material from a particular region of space. The class of problems just described is very challenging to solve, and there is a lack of simulation tools that are both readily accessible and general purpose. For some materials, suitable numerical discretizations are emerging or even entirely missing.

To help address this gap, Dr. Atherton will present Morpho, an open-source programmable environment intended to facilitate solution of shape optimization problems and computational geometry more generally. He will demonstrate a range of emerging applications from different areas of soft matter physics: including contact mechanics, hydrogels, liquid crystals, membranes, and elastic filaments. Prospects for applying these methods to new materials, such as ferroelectric nematics and smectics, as well as methods for landscape exploration will also be described.