סמינר מחלקתי ביה"ס להנדסה מכאנית Dr. Yossi Cohen

School of Mechanical Engineering Seminar
Monday, Nov 21, 2016 at 15:00
Wolfson Building of Mechanical Engineering, Room 206

Path selection and growth in a Poisson field

Dr. Yossi Cohen

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Physics, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

The Poisson equation appears in many physical processes including electrostatics, fluid dynamics and fracture mechanics. Yet, pattern formation processes involving Poisson dynamics are not well-understood. Here we present a criterion for path selection for growing channels. We show that the growth of a channel in a Poisson field follows local symmetry in order to maximize the flux in its vicinity. We then use this criterion to reconstruct the history of a real network and to find the growth law associated with it. We also identify a cause for instability that results in a ramified structure in which the golden ratio prevails.

Short Bio.:

Yossi Cohen is a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT since 2012, at the Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, and at Chemical Engineering under Profs. Rothman & Bazant, specializing in developing mathematical tools for pattern formation and growth mechanisms. He obtained a Ph.D. in Physics from the Weizmann Institute on Crack Formation and Instabilities in Physical Systems under Stress, during which he was awarded a grant from KAUST University for a visit to Oxford. Before that he completed his M.Sc and B.Sc at Hebrew University with honors, for which he was also awarded excellence scholarships.