Physics of Proteins I: Structure and Folding

Proteins are made in cells by translating genetic information into specific sequences in the linear polymers of amino acids. Functional proteins are those folded into proper 3D structures. Mis-folded proteins may cause diseases, aggregation and degradation. This session will be focused on how to use physics to understand protein folding mechanisms, perform structural predictions, and experimentally determine the structures of proteins.

Organizer:
Aihua Xie
Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University
145 Physical Science Bldg
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: (405) 744-6589
Email: xaihua@okstate.edu

Physics of Proteins II: Dynamics and Function

Proteins are made in cells by translating genetic information into specific sequences in the linear polymers of amino acids. Functional proteins are those folded into proper 3D structures. Mis-folded proteins may cause diseases, aggregation and degradation. This session will be focused on how to use physics to understand protein folding mechanisms, perform structural predictions, and experimentally determine the structures of proteins.

Organizer:
Aihua Xie
Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University
145 Physical Science Bldg
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: (405) 744-6589
Email: xaihua@okstate.edu

Physics of Proteins III: Protein-protein Interactions and Aggregation

In contrast to the deep understanding of monomeric protein folding, our understanding of what organizing principles underlie the aggregation of proteins into useful or deleterious quaternary structures is in its infancy. The problem is important for biology and technology. Self-assembled protein complexes cause disease when left unchecked (e.g. Alzheimer’s and recombinant insulin aggregation), but have useful functions when regulated (e.g. spider silk). Intrinsically unstructured proteins as monomers (like tau) can find order in aggregates. Surface bound protein complexes can play an important role in recycling membrane-associated proteins and other molecules, initiating signaling cascades from outside the cell, or facilitating invasion by bacteria or viruses. The quantitative characterization and theoretical description of the structure and assembly kinetics of protein aggregates is a frontier problem in biological physics, and this focus session will shed light on current knowledge and thought in this field.

Organizer:
Daniel L. Cox
Department of Physics, University of California, Davis
1 Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Phone: (415) 867-4992
Email: dlcox@ucdavis.edu

Single-Molecule Biological Physics I: Nucleic Acids

Polymeric nucleic acids, such as DNA, code for the proteins essential to all living cells, but they cannot perform their functions alone. A host of interacting proteins and enzymes are required to enable transcription, duplication, and degradation. in In this focus session we will explore recent advances in single molecule studies, which have revealed how enzymes bind, act, and produce force.

Organizers:
Jennifer Ross
Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
666 N. Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003
Phone: (413) 545-2399
Email: rossj@physics.umass.edu

Lori Goldner
Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
666 N. Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003
Phone: (413) 545-0594
Email: goldner@physics.umass.edu

Single-Molecule Biological Physics II: Proteins

This focus session intends to bring physicists together to discuss studies related to proteins using single-molecule methods. Advances in techniques such as atomic force microscopy, optical tweezers, magnetic tweezers, and fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy allow one to study and quantify the properties and dynamics of nanoscale biological molecules and their interaction with biomaterials or cells with high accuracy and resolution. This focus session will bring together experimentalists and theorists who work on the physics of proteins at the single-molecule scale, and will provide opportunities for interactions and potential collaborations.

Organizer:
Ching-Hwa Kiang
Rice University
Physics and Astronomy Department, MS-61
6100 Main Street
Houston, TX 77005
Phone: (713) 348-4130
Email: chkiang@rice.edu

Physics of DNA and Chromatin

In recent years, there have been significant advances in our understanding of how DNA and chromatin fold inside the nucleus. This focus session will emphasize the physics of DNA and chromatin and their various forms during interphase. Three types of results will be presented: (i) experimental results, such as those deriving from Hi-C experiments; (ii) computational results derived from simulation; and (iii) purely theoretical results. The goal of the session will be to highlight areas in which these 3 approaches converge on a similar portrait of DNA, as well as disparities between them. There are open problems of various types, which will also be discussed.

Organizer:
Erez Lieberman Aiden
Harvard Society of Fellows
48A Linnaean Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: (646) 662-9132
Email: elieberm@fas.harvard.edu

Systems Biology and Biochemical Networks

All life phenomena are based on interactions between different bio-molecules. Systems biology aims at studying the system-level biological behaviors emergent from the network of bio-molecular interactions. This is very similar in spirit to condensed-matter physics, which studies the properties of a material based on the microscopic interactions between its components. However, biological systems are much more complex than physical systems. The biochemical interactions are heterogeneous; they can change in space and time; the environment is noisy; and the systems constantly evolve and adapt. In this focus session, we will bring together biophysicists to present their work in understanding the structure and dynamics of various important biochemical networks, and their work in understanding how these biochemical network structures and their dynamics give rise to robust biological functions.

Organizer:
Yuhai Tu
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
1101 Kitchawan Rd./Rt. 134
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
Phone: (914) 945-2762
Email: Yuhai@us.ibm.com

Evolutionary Systems Biology

Over the last decade, scientists have begun to combine quantitative biological experiments with theoretical ideas from evolutionary dynamics and mathematical ecology. A central theme in much of this work is the interplay between different length scales; mutations in proteins or genetic networks lead to changes in cellular behaviors that ultimately alter population-level phenomena. For example, stochastic gene expression allows bet-hedging strategies that maximize fitness in fluctuating environments. Changes in gene regulation can also lead to "cheater" strategies that can destabilize potentially cooperative populations. Finally, "interactions" between mutations within an organism can lead to rugged fitness landscapes that may constrain the path of evolution. Understanding these diverse phenomena requires the integration of experimental, theoretical, and computational strategies over a wide range of length scales. This Focus Session will bring together experimentalists and theorists to exchange emerging ideas in this exciting new field.

Organizer:
Jeff Gore
Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
13 - 2008
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: (617) 715-4251
Email: gore@mit.edu

Systems Biology: Stochastic Gene Expression

The intrinsic stochasticity of gene expression is a fundamental mechanism for phenotypic variability among genetically identical cells. In prokaryotes it is believed to play a role in such important processes as genetic competence (DNA uptake), antibiotic tolerance, and the division of labor within colonies. Researchers hope to understand how the statistical fluctuations in underlying biochemical processes give rise to variations in the mRNA/protein levels that regulate these and other cellular behaviors. The field is moving quickly, with recent technological developments enabling quantitative single-cell measurements of cellular macromolecules, and new theoretical approaches being developed. This focus session will provide the opportunity to review recent theoretical and experimental progress in understanding stochastic gene expression and its consequences, and to discuss new approaches and applications and to explore potential synergies. The session will open with a presentation by Gabor Balazsi on using a noisy synthetic gene circuit to establish the genotype-phenotype connection for drug resistance. Rahul Kulkarni will then speak on the novel theoretical approach of using queuing theory to analyze general stochastic models of gene expression.

Organizer:
Steve Hagen
Department of Physics, University of Florida
P.O. Box 118440
Gainesville, FL 32611-8440
Phone: (352) 392-4716
Email: sjhagen@ufl.edu

Structure and Dynamics of Membranes

Natural and biomimetic membranes provide a fundamental understanding of membrane-associated proteins, practical application as delivery carriers for pharmaceuticals and diagnostic agents, the coating of biosensors, nano- or micro-reactors etc. The molecules forming biomimetic membranes (such as lipids, surfactants, polymers or their mixtures) generally self-assemble into rich structural phases with interesting dynamics, some of which are not fully understood. In order to optimize their applications, it is essential to fully understand the structure and dynamics of biomimetic membranes. This session will include presentations on structural characterization and dynamic studies of biomimetic membranes (including monolayer or bilayer membranes, substrate-supported membranes, polymerized membranes) and their interaction with membrane-associated biomolecules.

Organizer:
Mu-Ping Nieh
University of Connecticut, Institute of Materials Science,
Department of Chemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering
97 N. Eagleville Road
Storrs, CT 06269
Phone: (860) 486-8708
Email: mu-ping.nieh@ims.uconn.edu

Biological Physics of the Cytoskeleton and Biomechanics

Cytoskeletal filaments are non-covalent polymers that support and organize the cell interior. In this capacity, they act as support beams, tension ropes, and transport tracks for motors conducting intracellular transport. The cytoskeleton consists of microtubules, actin filaments, and intermediate filaments. Each type of filament has different roles in the cell and different physical properties to perform their functions. This focus session will examine the physical properties of the cytoskeleton with an emphasis on cellular organization.

Organizer:
Jennifer Ross
Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
666 N. Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003
Phone: (413) 545-2399
Email: rossj@physics.umass.edu

Physics of Cancer

Of all human maladies, cancer remains the most recalcitrant. In spite of vast amounts of monies spent, the over-all mortality rate for the past 40 years has been basically flat. To this day, the best defense has remained early detection followed by surgical removal. Often, by the time symptoms appear it is too late because the tumor has metastasized and become inoperable. Chemotherapy, basically the administration of poisons designed to kill rapidly growing cells, typically wins remission for a period of time but unfortunately also typically fails because the tumor cells evolve resistance to chemotherapy. Recently, the National Cancer Institute has called for help from the physical sciences to help understand cancer and discover ways to treat it. This Focus Session will be aimed will be aimed at physicists who would like to learn more about the fundamentals of cancer and will encourage "out of the box" ideas.

Organizer:
Robert Austin
Department of Physics, Princeton University
122 Jadwin Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544
Phone: (609) 258-4353
Email: Austin@princeton.edu

BioChip Physics

Research in biochips and biosensors has expanded rapidly in recent years, drawing scientists from often orthogonal fields and backgrounds.  This Focus Session provides a venue to establish a common ground among these researchers, in particular by focusing on fundamental detection physics and physical processes relevant to lab-on-a-chip applications.

The spectrum of physics upon which biochip technology is based is perhaps even broader than the physics of the semiconductor chip.  While detection encompasses optical, magnetic, electronic, mechanical and plasmonic physics, the capture of biological markers encompasses micro- and nano-flow physics, nanomechanics, physical chemistry, and thermodynamics, among others.
The over-arching theme of this focus session is detection physics as well as fundamental limits to detection.  In addition there will be an emphasis on the physical limits to scalability, both in terms of detection and in terms of miniaturization. Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Laser ring cavity biosensor physics
• Waveguide biosensors
• Micro-fluidic biosensors
• Nano-porous Sensors
• ARROW (anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide)
• Resonant mirror sensors
• Surface plasmon resonance; plasmonic materials for sensors (including surface-enhanced Raman)
• Nanoscale biosensing based on cantilevers and microresonators
• BioCD biosensors
• Colorimetric diffraction sensors
• Bio-layer interferometric approaches
• Membrane-based biosensors (potentiometric or optical)
• MOSFET-charge-based biosensor physics
• SQUID-based biosensor physics
• Detection constraints: Nonspecific Adsorption
• Micro-channel fabrication: Rapid Prototyping, creating functionalized surfaces
• Nanometer scaling limits
• Quantum detection limits

Organizers:
David Nolte
Purdue University, Department of Physics
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2036
Phone: (765) 494-3013
Fax: (765) 494-0706
Email: nolte@physics.purdue.edu

Peter Kiesel
Electronic Materials and Devices Lab, Palo Alto Research Center
3333 Coyote Hill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304
Phone: (650) 812-4178
Fax: (650) 812-4105
Email: peter.kiesel@parc.com

Designed Protein-Protein Interactions

In this session, we will bring together physicists, biochemists, and molecular biologists to discuss the latest breakthroughs in the design of protein-protein interactions. We seek studies that incorporate molecular-mechanics, knowledge-based, as well as novel approaches to protein design that are closely tied to experimental studies. In particular, we welcome submissions that recognize the importance of packing constraints (or steric interactions) in determining protein structure and dynamics. Both fundamental studies that aim to understand for example the distribution of dihedral angles in proteins of known structure and applications that include the design of binding pockets and targeting molecules are encouraged.

Organizer:
Corey O'Hern
Yale University, Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science; Department of Physics
9 Hillhouse Avenue, Mason Lab
New Haven, CT 06520-8286
Phone: (203) 432-4258
Email: corey.ohern@yale.edu

Stochastic Population Dynamics

Over the past few years, mathematical and computational tools from statistical physics have been increasingly and quite successfully applied to ecological problems, including attempts at a quantitative understanding of the emergence and stability of biodiversity. Physicists typically consider simplified idealized models that hopefully capture the essential features of interacting biosystems. Leaving aside some of the biological complexity allows the consistent incorporation of stochastic fluctuations and spatio-temporal correlations, whose crucial importance has long been recognized in the field, but is nevertheless often neglected. For example, Monte Carlo simulations for stochastic predator-prey models display a remarkable wealth of intriguing features such as persistent spatio-temporal structures and stochastic population oscillations. In parallel, novel analytical developments have advanced our current understanding of how fluctuations and emerging correlations enhance the stability of such structures, and increase extinction times in small populations. Cyclic predator-prey systems also offer intriguing connections to paradigmatic models in game theory. Proposed invited speaker Erwin Frey will explain how non-equilibrium statistical physics models can be used to successfully describe the remarkable features of certain bacterial systems. Royce Zia will describe how the interactions in cyclically competing species lead to interesting and unexpected behavior. We anticipate that a focus session in this presently very active field will attract a large number of contributed talks, spanning the range from experimental studies to computational and analytical theoretical investigations.

Organizers:
Michel Pleimling
Department of Physics, Virginia Tech
Robeson Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0435
Phone: (540) 231-2675
Email: Michel.Pleimling@vt.edu

Uwe C. Tauber
Department of Physics, Virginia Tech
Robeson Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0435
Phone: (540) 231-8998
Email: tauber@vt.edu

Statistical Physics of Sequence

Biological sequence information is produced at a tremendous rate, especially with the recent advent of high-throughput sequencing. Many physicists find that methods of statistical physics are exquisitely suited to extract biological knowledge from these sequences. A recent example of this approach's prominence was last year's outstanding thesis award by the Division of Biological Physics. This Focus Session will bring together this community of physicists enabling the exchange of ideas between individuals that work on a multitude of biological problems but share a core set of quantitative methods. It is anchored by Ralf Bundschuh, one of the early adopters of this approach who has successfully applied statistical physics methods to many problems in biological sequence analysis including more recently RNA editing, and by Alexandre Morozov, a young Assistant Professor who has made a name for himself by using statistical Physics to understand the positioning of nucleosomes on DNA genome-wide.

Organizer:
Michael Poirier
Department of Physics, Ohio State University
191 W Woodruff Avenue
Columbus, OH, 43220
Phone: (614) 247-4493
Email: mpoirier@mps.ohio-state.edu

Chemical Physics for New Energy

The rising worldwide demand for energy and the need for energy sources that reduce CO2 emissions require new approaches to energy technologies. These new approaches will include new energy sources (e.g., solar energy, advanced nuclear energy, fusion energy, and alternative feedstocks for fuels), more efficient ways to use energy (e.g., fuel cells and solid state lighting), and improved efficiency in energy storage (e.g., electrical and chemical energy storage). There are many common underlying scientific questions that need to be addressed to advance new energy technologies, such as:

• How can light fields be manipulated to promote desired conversions?
• How can light absorption be controlled to produce energy carriers and intermediates efficiently and selectively?
• What controls the ability of materials to store, transfer, and transport charged species such as electrons, holes and ions?
• How can energy be directed to control chemical transformations such as with catalysts?
• How do charge transfer and chemical transformation couple in photoelectrochemical generation and electrochemical storage of energy?
• What properties of materials determine their behavior under extreme conditions (high temperatures, pressures, and flux of high energy particles)?
• What is the role of condensed phase liquids, particularly aqueous liquids, in energy applications?

Chemical physics tools and approaches, which rely on model system studies of physical/chemical phenomena from the perspective of atomic/molecular and condensed matter physics, offer opportunities to develop a fundamental understanding of many of the scientific issues and answer key scientific questions important for advancing new energy technologies. This symposium will highlight research advances that are essential to answer fundamental science questions underlying new energy technologies.

Organizers:
Bruce C. Garrett
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Email: kieron@uci.edu

Anders Nilsson
SLAC, Stanford University
Email: nmaitra@hunter.cuny.edu

Density Functional Theory for Chemical Physics

Density Functional Theory, in both its ground-state and time-dependent (TD) flavors, is an exact reformulation of the non-relativistic quantum mechanics of many-body systems. Used in more than 10,000 papers per year, DFT provides an unprecedented balance of accuracy and efficiency for electronic structure calculations in molecules, clusters, and solids. DFT is often the only computationally feasible, quantum mechanical approach to some of the most interesting and topical problems in chemical physics today: from stacking interactions in DNA, to the design of solar cell candidates, to photodynamics and molecular transport. There are however many problems for which DFT performs notoriously poorly. Several open questions that will be addressed are:

• Orbital-free DFT: A dream or a reliable reality?
• Weak molecular interactions: how reliable and universal are the functionals for hydrogen bonds? for van der Waal’s?
• Strongly-correlated systems: Can we dissociate H2 and H2+ correctly?
• Energy applications: What are the realistic prospects for accurate modeling of energy applications? What are the most crucial aspects of the approximate functionals for this purpose?
• Excitons: Can they be described in TDDFT?
• Potential-energy surfaces: How can we make potential energy surfaces globally accurate enough to be used confidently for phenomena such as photo-induced dynamics in biomolecules?
• Beyond Born-Oppenheimer: How should we correctly account for ionic motion coupled to electron dynamics?
• Strong-field physics: How useful is time-dependent DFT for attosecond control, multiple-ionization, charge-resonance enhanced ionization...?

This symposium will highlight recent advances in both theory development and applications.

Organizers:
Kieron Burke
Chemistry, University of California, Irvine
Email: kieron@uci.edu

Neepa Maitra
Physics and Astronomy, Hunter College, CUNY
Email: nmaitra@hunter.cuny.edu

Chemical Physics of the Environment

Chemical physics processes play important roles in many environmentally relevant processes including the sequestration, migration, transformation and removal of contaminants in soil, the atmosphere and ground water; water purification; green manufacturing; the migration and transformation of nanoparticles in the environment. For example, the chemical physics of transition metal oxides (and other oxides and minerals) impact contaminant migration in ground water, contaminant sequestration (including carbon storage), and the catalytic and photo-­‐catalytic reduction of atmospheric contaminants. The production, transformation and radiation impacts of atmospheric aerosols (often involving many reactive chemicals) have important impacts on pollution and atmospheric radiation. Processes in fluids including water and scCO2 are also of wide importance. Focus topic sessions will include:

• Transition metal and other oxides – The chemical physics of transmission metal oxides and other oxides and minerals with relevance to contaminant oxidation/reduction and transport, emission sequestration (including CO2), and other environmentally important processes such as nucleation and growth, dissolution, catalysis and photocatalysis.
• Green processes – Chemical physics relevant to environmentally friendly processes (green processing, green solvents, catalysis for contaminant removal etc.)
• Atmospheric Aerosols – Understanding formation, transformation, and transport processes of atmospheric aerosols and their implications for radiation balance and other important environmental processes.
• Nanoparticles in the environment – Chemical physical processes related to transformations, migration and physicochemical properties of nanoparticles in the environment.
• Water (and other fluids) – Chemical physics of water which impacts contaminant transport, water purification, transport and reactions in nano-pores, multi-phase fluid flow, and a variety of processes relevant to clouds and aerosols.
• Sensors – Chemical physics of detection processes important for the development of highly sensitive environmental sensors

An objective of this symposium is to examine the current understanding (and limitations) of environmentally relevant processes and to point towards areas where additional theoretical and/or experimental advances and tools can enable scientific advances. Many environmental reactions couple processes across materials phase or size and presentations that deal with these added complexities are particularly encouraged.

Organizers:
Donald Baer
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Email: don.baer@pnnl.gov

J. Ilja Siepmann
Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, University of Minnesota
Email: siepmann@umn.edu

Impact of Ultrafast Lasers in Chemical Physics: Advances in Nonlinear Spectroscopies, Light Sources, and Applications

Ultrafast laser methods have led to an extraordinary number of new insights about molecules and materials through spectroscopic and dynamic characterizations. In part, these advances have occurred because the experimentally accessible time scales match time scales used in computational approaches. At the same time, advances in the theoretical framework describing and predicting new optical phenomena have encouraged forays into novel experiments. Fundamental to these successes are the efforts to produce light sources with high power and high stability at femtosecond and shorter time scales. Moreover, these light sources have encouraged the development of new optical technologies capable of producing ultrashort light pulses over a wide wavelength range from THz to hard x-rays, enabling a multitude of nonlinear and multidimensional spectroscopic techniques. As indicated in the adjacent graphic, this symposium will bring investigators attentive to development, application, and theory of ultrashort laser spectroscopy together into a single symposium. Presentations will address issues such as:

• How has the development of new light sources facilitated new chemical physics explorations?
• How do theoretical predictions in chemical physics lead to new experimental results?
• How does the demand for new spectroscopies drive the development of new ultrashort pulsed light sources tunable from the UV to IR?
• What new applications have grown out of the interaction of new light sources and new spectroscopies?
• What new short pulsed light sources exist and how can they be harnessed to increase our understanding of basic chemical physics phenomena?
• How can we manipulate light to attain new spectroscopic and dynamic techniques? This includes topics such as pulse shaping, diffractive optics, quantum optics, entanglement.
• How have researchers developed new spectroscopic techniques or extended existing techniques into different spectroscopic regimes?
• What is the future of multidimensional spectroscopies?
• Can we harness light to control physical and chemical processes?

This symposium will showcase new laser technologies, their applications and associated theoretical framework highlighting revolutionary measurements of fundamental processes important in physics, chemistry, biology, materials science and beyond.

Organizers:
Amber Krummel
Chemistry, Colorado State University
Email: Amber.Krummel@colostate.edu

Nancy Levinger
Chemistry, Colorado State University
Email: levinger@lamar.colostate.edu

Chemical Physics of Clusters, Nanoparticles, and Nanoscale Materials

New and surprising behaviors emerge when matter is divided into nanometer or sub- nanometer length scales. The finite size coupled with the large number of surface atoms, reduced coordination and low dimensionality render nano-structured materials properties that are different from the bulk. The stability, band gaps, and reactivity are all found to change with size, composition and the charged state, and clusters of non-magnetic solids can be magnetic. Most appealing are systems that display interesting behaviors, whose composition can be selectively chosen, and whose individual characteristics might be retained when assembled into an extended material. In this context, one promising concept is the possibility that nanoscale materials of desired properties can be formed via the technique of assembling clusters that have been designed to have specific properties, whereby the clusters serve as individual molecular building blocks. The session will highlight novel electronic, magnetic and chemical behaviors associated with clusters and nanostructures and how novel nano-materials with tunable characteristics may be synthesized by assembling size selected clusters/nanoparticles as building blocks. Theoretical and experimental contributions will be solicited in the following areas:

• Synthesis and characterization of clusters and nanoparticles.
• Structure, stability and the electronic behavior of clusters and nanoparticles.
• Evolution of magnetic behavior with size and the magnetic behavior of molecular nanomagnets.
• Electronic Transport in molecular systems.
• Catalytic behavior and the developments of nano-catalysts.
• Assemblies of clusters/nanoparticles.

Organizers:
Shiv Khanna
Physics, Virginia Commonwealth University
Email: snkhanna@vcu.edu

Gabor Somorjai
Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley
Email: somorjai@berkeley.edu

Award Symposium for the Ernest K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy & Dynamics

This session will be a celebration of the work of the prize winner (to be announced).

Session Chair:
Birgitta Whaley
Email: whaley@berkeley.edu

Quantum Quench Dynamics in Cold Atom Systems

Understanding nonequilibrium quantum dynamics of many-body systems is one of the key problems of modern physics. Systems of ultracold atoms are particularly well suied for addressing this problem due to their excellent isolation from the environment and rich experimental toolbox for controlling both the kinetic motion of atoms and their interaction strength. This focus session highlights recent experimental and theoretical developments in the analysis of many-body dynamics following a sudden change in the Hamiltonian.

Organizer:
Anatoli Polkovnikov
Boston University
Email: asp@buphy.bu.edu

Many-body Quantum Phases in Cold atom Systems

The precision and control of atomic physics now allows the study of well-characterized and tunable many-body systems and provides the capability of simulating fundamental models of interacting electrons in a controlled setting. This focus session will highlight recent experimental and theoretical progress in realizing important many-body states with ultracold atoms.

Organizer:
Eugene Demler
Harvard University
Email: demler@physics.harvard.edu

Hybrid Systems and Quantum Information Science in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

The aim of this focus session is to discuss theoretical ideas and experimental methods to interface different quantum systems in order to build larger-scale quantum information processing devices.

Organizer:
Mikhail Lukin
Harvard University
Email: lukin@fas.harvard.edu

Numerical methods for studying nonequilibrium many-body dynamics: DMRG, DMFT, Truncated Wigner approximation, Exact diagonalization

Rapid experimental progress in realizing controlled dynamically tunable many-body systems stimulated considerable theoretical activity aimed at developing new methods for theoretical analysis of nonequilibrium dynamics. This special session will focus on the recent progress in the numerical techniques addressing questions of coherent evolution of interacting many-body systems.

Organizer:
Anatoli Polkovnikov
Boston University
Email: asp@buphy.bu.edu

DMP/DCOMP

Dielectric, Ferroelectric, and Piezoelectric Oxides

This topic focuses on dielectric, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric phenomena in oxides, their characterization by a broad range of techniques, and the growth of such materials in bulk, thin-film, superlattice, and nanostructured forms. Experimental results as well as theoretical, modeling/simulation, and materials-design approaches will be discussed. Specific areas of interest include domain structure and dynamics, lattice dielectric properties, impact of disorder on cooperative behavior, physics of phase transitions, and the coupling between ferroelectric, piezoelectric, optical, transport, and multiferroic properties. This topic will in particular discuss how such properties are modified by nanoscale geometries, the effects of strain, surfaces and interfaces, chemical environment, and electrical boundary conditions. Contributions addressing how local properties in interfacial or other nanoscale systems can be harnessed in macroscopic applications will be particularly encouraged. As there is potential overlap with other focus topics in the areas of multiferroics and interfacial effects, the organizers will share information to group abstracts in a consistent fashion. In general, authors in these areas are encouraged to submit their abstracts to this topic if the presented work focuses on ferroelectric or piezoelectric properties.

Organizers:
Hans M. Christen
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Email: christenhm@ornl.gov

Peter M. Gehring
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Email: peter.gehring@nist.gov

Philippe Ghosez
University of Liege
Email: philippe.ghosez@ulg.ac.be

DMP

Topological Insulators: Synthesis and Characterization

Recent theoretical work has nucleated significant interest in materials known as “topological insulators” wherein the combined effects of the spin-orbit interaction and fundamental symmetries can lead to an insulator with a bulk energy gap but with gapless surface (or edge) states. The field is still at a nascent stage where concerted efforts in materials synthesis and characterization will be essential for exploring the full panoply of phenomena predicted by theory. This topic will focus on fundamental advances in the synthesis of candidate topological insulator crystals in various forms including bulk single crystals; exfoliated and epitaxial thin films; epitaxially modulated heterostructures; nanowires and nanoribbons. Of equal interest is the characterization of these samples using structural, electrical, magnetic, optical and other techniques, with particular focus on identifying samples whose properties are dominated by the surface states.

Organizers:
Nitin Samarth
Penn State University
Email: nsamarth@psu.edu

Michael Fuhrer
University of Maryland
Email: mfuhrer@umd.edu

DMP

Dopants and Defects in Semiconductors

Impurities and native defects profoundly affect the electronic and optical properties of semiconductor materials. Incorporation of impurities is nearly always a necessary step for tuning the electrical properties in semiconductors. In some cases, as in dilute III-V alloys, impurities even modify the band gap. Defects control carrier concentration, mobility, lifetime, and recombination; they are also responsible for the mass-transport processes involved in migration, diffusion, and precipitation of impurities and host atoms. The control of impurities and defects is the critical factor that enables a semiconductor to be engineered for use in electronic and optoelectronic devices as has been widely recognized in the remarkable development of Si-based electronics, the current success of GaN-based blue LED and lasers, and the emergence of ZnO for nanoelectronics sensors, and transparent conducting displays. The fundamental understanding, characterization and control of defects and impurities are essential for the development of new devices, such as those based on novel wide-band gap semiconductors, spintronic materials, and low-dimensional structures.

The physics of dopants and defects in semiconductors, from the bulk to the nanoscale, including surfaces and interfaces, is the subject of this focus topic. The electronic, structural, optical, and magnetic properties of impurities and defects in elemental and compound semiconductors, SiO₂ and alternative dielectrics, wide band-gap materials such as diamond, SiC, group-III nitrides, and oxide semiconductors are of interest. Abstracts on experimental and theoretical investigations are solicited.

Organizers:
Anderson Janotti
University of California, Santa Barbara
Email: ajanotti@mrl.ucsb.edu

Len Brillson
The Ohio State University
Email: brillson.1@osu.edu

DMP/DCOMP

Fe-based Superconductors: Synthesis, Characterization, and Modeling

This focus topic will concentrate on the synthesis, characterization, and modeling of Fe-based superconductors and related compounds. The broad goal is the understanding of the relationship between the spectrum of different crystalline, magnetic and electronic structures found to be related to high critical temperatures in this new family of high-temperature superconductors, as well as the potential for new superconducting systems to be discovered. Relevant topics include: (i) the synthesis of new iron-based superconducting materials; (ii) their characterization using a variety of experimental techniques such as neutron scattering, angle resolved photoemission, electron scanning microscopy, and transport and thermodynamic measurements; and (iii) modeling of these materials and computer intensive studies of their properties.

Organizers:
Adriana Moreo
University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Knoxville, TN 37996
Phone: (865) 974-2084
Email: amoreo@utk.edu

Johnpierre Paglione
Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials
Department of Physics, University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4111
Phone: (301) 405-7115
Email: paglione@umd.edu

John Tranquada
Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science Dept.
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton, NY 11973-5000
Phone: (631) 344-7547
Email: jtran@bnl.gov

DMP

Search for New Superconductors

This topic will focus on fundamental advances in the growth, characterization, and experimental as well as theoretical understanding of new superconducting materials with the exclusion of the recently discovered magnesium diborides, pnictides, and calcoginides. The main goal of this focus topic is to explore non-conventional ideas in superconductivity, and to foster the exchange of information about discoveries that may conceive a change in our understanding of superconductivity. Its purpose is to promote interaction among theorists and experimentalists and seed new directions in superconductivity research, especially in areas cutting across traditional disciplinary boundaries. Areas of interest include new approaches in the study of superconductivity in complex materials, metamaterials, heterojunctions, and hybrid structures. The focus topic will cover a wide range of novel superconductors such as organics and intercalation compounds. The creation of superconducting nanostructures with atomic scale control using physical and chemical methods is also of interest. The focus topic will specifically include research on understanding of mechanisms for improvements in superconducting materials, engineering superconductors with ab initio methods, empirical approaches in the search for novel superconductors, and theoretical predictions leading past serendipitous discovery to predictive design.

Organizers:
Meigan Aronson
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Email: maronson@bnl.gov

Yvan Bruynseraede
K. U. Leuven
Email: yvan.bruynseraede@fys.kuleuven.be

Horst Rogalla
University of Twente
Email: h.rogalla.utwente.nl@gmail.com

DMP/GMAG

Magnetic Nanostructures: Materials and Phenomena

This topic focuses on magnetic nanostructures such as thin films, multilayers, superlattices, nanoparticles, nanowires, nanorings, nanocomposites, hybrid nanostructures, spin phenomena in nanoscale organics, magnetic point contacts and self-assembled as well as patterned magnetic arrays. The sessions will include methods used to synthesize such nanostructures, the variety of materials used, and the latest, original theoretical and experimental advances. There is a special interest in novel properties that arise at the nanoscale, as well as synthesis and characterization techniques demonstrating nano- or atomic-scale control of properties. Phenomena and properties of interest include: magnetization dynamics, magnetic interactions, magnetic quantum confinement, spin tunneling and spin crossover, proximity and structural disorder effects, strain effects, microwave resonance and microwave assisted reversal, magnetic anisotropy, and thermal and quantum fluctuations.

Organizers:
Axel Enders
University of Nebraska
Email: aenders2@unlnotes.unl.edu

Sam Jiang
Argonne National Laboratory
Email: jiang@anl.gov

Hao Zeng
University of Buffalo
Email: haozeng@buffalo.edu

DMP/GMAG

Emergent Properties in Bulk Complex Oxides

The emergence of exotic states of matter from the intricate coupling of the electronic and lattice degrees of freedom is a unique feature in strongly correlated electron systems. Included in this class are the complex oxides of 3-, 4-, and 5-d transition metal compounds that exhibit a wide range of novel physical properties stemming from the complex nature of the competing interactions and nearly degenerate multiple ground states. Associated with this complexity is a tendency for new forms of order such as the formation of stripes, ladders, checkerboards, or phase separation, and an enhanced response to external influences. This Focus Topic explores the nature of the various ground states observed in bulk specimens of complex oxides and their competing interactions, the ways in which the spin, lattice, charge and orbital degrees of freedom respond on a variety of length scales, and how they interact and compete with each other to produce novel phenomena. It provides a forum to discuss recent developments and results covering basic aspects (new materials synthesis, experiment, theory and simulation) of bulk systems. Note there is some overlap in topic with other DMP and GMAG focus sessions on oxides. The organizers of all of the related focus sessions will share information and work together with the March Meeting Program Committee to make an optimal meeting program.

Organizers:
Despina Louca
University of Virginia
Email: dl4f@Virginia.edu

Tanusri Saha-Dasgupta
S.N. Bose National Centre
Email: tanusri@bose.res.in

Patrick Woodward
Ohio State University
Email: woodward@chemistry.ohio-state.edu

DMP/GMAG

Magnetic Oxide Thin Films and Heterostructures

Magnetism in complex oxides has long been a rich field of study in solid state physics as there are strong interactions between spin, charge, lattice, and orbital degrees of freedom. Furthermore, when magnetic oxides are grown as thin films they often exhibit additional effects resulting from epitaxial strain, reduced dimensionality, charge transfer, proximity effects, or phase competition and/or coupling across interfaces. This Focus Topic is dedicated to advances in the understanding of the electronic and magnetic properties of oxide thin films, heterostructures, superlattices, and nanostructures with an emphasis on growth, characterization, theoretical modeling and novel device physics. Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to, (anti) ferromagnetism, strongly correlated “Mott” thin films, growth of oxide materials, control of their magnetic properties, domain structures, advances in techniques to probe and image different types of magnetic order in complex oxide thin films (including optical and electron-probes and neutron/synchrotron-based techniques), magneto-transport, and recent developments in theoretical prediction and materials-design approaches to magnetic oxide thin films, superlattices, and nanostructures. Note there is some overlap in topic with other DMP and GMAG focus sessions. As a rule of thumb, if magnetism plays a key role in the investigation or the properties observed, then the talk is appropriate for this focus topic. The organizers of all of the related focus sessions will share information and work together with the March Meeting Program Committee to make an optimal meeting program.

Organizers:
Alex de Lozanne
University of Texas
Email: delozanne@physics.utexas.edu

Susanne Stemmer
UC Santa Barbara
Email: stemmer@mrl.ucsb.edu

Suzanne te Velthuis
Argonne National Laboratory
Email: tevelthuis@anl.gov

DMP/FIAP/
GMAG

Spin Transport and Magnetization Dynamics in Metals-Based Systems

Spin-related effects in metals and in ferromagnetic heterostructures are generally robust and readily observed at room temperature. Fundamental discoveries such as giant and tunnel magnetoresistance and current-induced spin-transfer torque are moving from discovery to applications rapidly, while fundamental spin-dependent transport physics and novel materials and thin film structures are being actively explored in all-metal junctions and magnetic tunnel junctions for deeper understandings and potentially new functional materials and devices for applications. This Focus Topic aims to capture new developments in these areas, including experimental and theoretical aspects of spin transport and magnetization dynamics in metal-based systems, such as ultrathin films, lateral nanostructures, perpendicular nanopillars, and tunnel junctions. In particular, contributions describing new results in the following areas are solicited:

• The interplay between spin currents and magnetization dynamics in magnetic nanostructures; spin-transfer, spin pumping and related phenomena, including current-induced magnetization dynamics in heterostructures and domain wall motion in magnetic wires.
• Theoretical predictions and/or experimental discovery of half-metallic band structures, both in bulk solids and at the surfaces of thin films. Spin transport and magnetization dynamics in magnetic nanostructures (e.g. TMR, CPP-GMR and lateral spin valve structures) based on half-metallic materials.
• Effects of the spin-orbit interaction on steady-state and dynamical properties of nanostructures including: the (inverse) spin and anomalous Hall effects, microscopic mechanisms of magnetization damping, and the effects of interface spin-orbit interaction.
• Magnetic response to electric field (e.g anisotropy, phase transition, exchange bias,…) including: electric field activation in hybrid metals/oxide structures, piezoelectric layer coupled to ferromagnetic films, electrolyte/ferromagnetic systems
• Ultrafast magnetization response to (and reversal by) intense laser pulses; magnetization dynamics at elevated temperatures and thermally assisted magnetization reversal.
• Thermoelectric spin phenomena such as giant-magneto thermopower and Peltier effects, spin-Seebeck effect, spin and anomalous Nernst and Ettingshausen effects (spin caloritronics).
• Thermal gradient and/or RF driven magnetization dynamics in (composite) nanostructures including spin wave excitation, propagation, and detection (magnonics), as well as vortices.
• Interactions between electronic spin-current and magnon propagations in thin film and device structures.

Organizers:
Dafine Ravelosona
Institut d'Electronique Fondamentale, Orsay
Email: dafine.ravelosona@u-psud.fr

Jonathan Sun
IBM Research
Email: jonsun@us.ibm.com

Shufeng Zhang
University of Arizona
Email: zhangs@physics.arizona.edu

GMAG/DMP/
FIAP

Spin Dependent Phenomena in Semiconductors

The field of spin-dependent phenomena in semiconductors shows rapid and significant advances and challenges in a widening range of new effects, new materials systems (e.g., heterostructures, oxides, silicon, diamond, graphene and organics), and new structures (e.g., self-assembled and lithographically defined semiconductor quantum structures, wires and carbon nanotubes, hybrid ferromagnetic/semiconductor structures). This focus topic solicits contributions aimed at understanding spin-dependent processes in magnetic and non-magnetic structures incorporating semiconducting materials. Topics include: (i) electrical and optical spin injection, spin Hall effects, spin-dependent topological effects, spin interference, spin filtering, spin lifetime effects, spin dependent scattering, and spin torque; (ii) growth, characterization, electrical, optical and magnetic properties of (ferro-)magnetic semiconductors, nanocomposite and hybrid ferromagnet/semiconductor structures including quantum dots, nanocrystals, and nanowires; (iii) spin-dependent transport and dynamical effects in semiconductors with or without spin-orbit interactions; (iv) manipulation, detection, and entanglement of electrical and nuclear spins in quantum systems such as dots, impurities and point defects; (v) high temperature ferromagnetism in semiconductors and semiconductor oxides; and (vi) spin-dependent devices and device proposals involving ferromagnets and semiconductors.

Organizers:
Jean Heremans
Virginia Tech
Email: heremans@vt.edu

Paul Koenraad
Technical University of Eindhoven
Email: P.M.Koenraad@tue.nl

Giovanni Vignale
University of Missouri
Email: vignaleg@missouri.edu

DMP/GMAG

Frustrated Magnetism

Simple antiferromagnets on bipartite lattices have well-understood ground states, elementary excitations, thermodynamic phases and phase transitions. At the forefront of current research are frustrated magnets where competing interactions suppress magnetic order and may lead to qualitatively new behavior. Frustrated magnets are expected to have unusual, quantum-disordered ground states and fractionalized excitations akin to those found in one-dimensional antiferromagnets. They are also sensitive to nominally small perturbations and interact in a non-trivial way with orbital and lattice degrees of freedom. This Focus Topic solicits abstracts for presentations that explore both theoretical and experimental aspects of the field. The themes to be represented are united by geometrical frustration: valence-bond solids and other exotic magnetic orders, spin ice, quantum spin liquids, order from disorder, magnetoelastic coupling, and novel field-induced behavior. Also of interest are the effects of strongly fluctuating spins on properties beyond magnetism including transport, thermal transport and ferroelectricity. Please note that Low-dimensional and Molecular Magnetism is now a separate focus topic (10.1.8).

Organizers:
Bruce Gaulin
McMaster University
Email: gaulin@physics.mcmaster.ca

Art Ramirez
University of California, Santa Cruz
Email: apr@soe.ucsc.edu

Oleg Tchernyshyov
Johns Hopkins University
Email: olegt@jhu.edu

DMP/GMAG

Spin-Dependent Physics in Carbon-Based Materials

This focus topic is on spin transport, spin dynamics and exchange in carbon-based materials, including organic and molecular solids, all-carbon systems, organic radical systems, and π-conjugated organic/polymeric systems. These issues are of great current interest because of breakthrough results in the field of "organic spintronics." Research at the intersection of several forefront areas in condensed matter and material physics will be covered: spin injection at the inorganic to organic interface, the degree of spin polarization attainable by organic based solids, spin coherence and relaxation, hyperfine interaction between the electronic spin and nuclear magnetic moments, and magnetic exchange and magnetic ordering. Phenomena and materials of interest include hybrid ferromagnetic/organic structures, spin transport in graphene and carbon nanotubes, spin qubits in diamond, quantum tunneling of the magnetic moment, and triplet states, as well as magnetic field effects (such as organic magnetoresistance), singlet/triplet issues and spin resonance in organic semiconductors.

Organizers:
Roland Kawakami
UC Riverside
Email: roland.kawakami@ucr.edu

Bert Koopmans
Technical University of Eindhoven
Email: b.koopmans@tue.nl

Jagadeesh Moodera
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Email: moodera@mit.edu

DMP/GMAG

Low-Dimensional and Molecular Magnetism

The control and manipulation of spin and charge degrees of freedom in nanoscale systems has become a major challenge during the last decades, triggered by exciting applications in emerging technologies such as quantum computation and spintronics among others. For this goal to be accomplished, a complete understanding of the quantum behavior of interacting electronic and even nuclear spins in solid state systems is necessary. For conventional three dimensional magnetic materials a robust framework for describing the low temperature structures, phase transitions, and excitations exists. However, when fluctuations are enhanced by low dimensionality, qualitatively new behavior can emerge. Low dimensional magnetic systems have become prototype systems in this direction. For example, the synthetic flexibility of molecule-based magnets allows the magnetic quantum response of the system to be engineered. This Focus Topic solicits abstracts that explore inorganic and organic molecule-based as well as solid state systems, and both theoretical and experimental aspects of the field. Topics of interest include: magnetism in zero, one, and two dimensions (e.g. quantum dots, single molecule magnets, spin chains, lattices), order by disorder, the role of magnetoelastic, spin-orbit and superexchange couplings, quantum critical low dimensional spin systems, topological excitations, quantum tunneling of magnetization, coherence phenomena and novel field-induced behavior.

Organizers:
Enrique del Barco
University of Central Florida
Email: delbarco@physics.ucf.edu

Jürgen Schnack
Bielefeld University
Email: jschnack@uni-bielefeld.de

Vivien Zapf
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Email: vzapf@lanl.gov