Duke Physics

Address: Physics Department Duke University Durham, NC, 27708 Office: Room 096, Physics Building Telephone: (919) 660-2557 Fax: (919) 660-2525 E-mail: socolar@phy.duke.edu Current appointment Biographical data Non-physics interests Family Home Page Rebecca's Memorial and 2008 Blog

Research interests

• Hexagonal Parquet Tilings (PDF).
  This is a paper that was published in the Mathematical Intelligencer. The published article is mistakenly drawn from an earlier draft.
• Boolean networks and gene expression
• Elasticity of granular materials (page under construction)
• Tiling theory (page under construction)
• Controlling nonlinear systems using time-delayed feedback (page not available)
• Self-organization in slowly driven dissipative systems (page not available)
• Quasicrystal stability and elasticity (page not available)

Courses taught (Most recent versions)

• Introductory Mechanics -- first of a three-semester sequence for undergraduate engineering students.
• Classical Mechanics -- a core graduate course.
• Introduction to Statistical Mechanics -- a core graduate course.
• Advanced Statistical Physics -- an advanced topics course for physics graduate students.
• Thermal Physics -- required for undergraduate physics majors.
• Conceptual Physics -- for non-science majors.
• Emergence of Complexity -- part of the "Origins" FOCUS program for freshmen.

Some Original Tilings

• Octagonal quasicrystal with glide planes: (66K gif)
  • colormap 1
  • colormap 2
  • colormap 3
• Limit-periodic hexagonal tiling with matching rules:
  • the tiles (15K gif)
  • the tiling (45K gif)