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CATEGORIES:Isaac Newton Institute Seminar Series
SUMMARY:Knots in light and fluids - Irvine\, W (University
  of Chicago)
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20120911T113000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20120911T123000
UID:TALK39726AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk
URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/39726
DESCRIPTION:To tie a shoelace into a knot is a relatively simp
 le affair. Tying a knot in a field is a different 
 story\, because the whole of space must be filled 
 in a way that matches the knot being tied at the c
 ore. The possibility of such localized knottedness
  in a space-filling field has fascinated physicist
 s and mathematicians ever since Kelvin?s 'vortex a
 tom' \nhypothesis\, in which the atoms of the peri
 odic table were hypothesized to correspond to clos
 ed vortex loops of different knot types. An intrig
 uing physical manifestation of the interplay betwe
 en knots and fields is the possibility of having k
 notted dynamical excitations. I will discuss some 
 remarkably intricate and stable topological struct
 ures that can exist in light fields whose evolutio
 n is governed entirely by the geometric structure 
 of the field. A special solution based on a struct
 ure known as a Robinson Congruence that was re-dis
 covered in different contexts will serve as a basi
 s for the discussion. I will then turn to hydrodyn
 amics and discuss topologically non-trivial vortex
  configurations in fluids.\n\n
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Newton Institute Gatehouse
CONTACT:Mustapha Amrani
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