Dr. Mazen Al-Ghoul

 
 Professor (Chairperson)
Chemical Physics

B.Sc., American University of Beirut (1992); Ph.D., McGill University (1997); Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University (1997-98).

• The general theme of research is theoretical studies in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, extended irreversible thermodynamics for systems far removed from equilibrium, generalized hydrodynamics, and stochastic systems. In these investigations, formal theories are first developed and then they are studied by means of suitable numerical methods for computation of various thermodynamic, conformational, and transport properties of fluids. The Nonlinear transport processes that are of particular interest to us include:

  • Shock wave structures in molecular gases. These are being studied as applications of the nonlinear generalized hydrodynamic theories that are recently developed.

  • Nonequilibrium partition function in the presence of a heat flux. Such a function is evaluated using parallel Monte Carlo methods.

  • Flow of gases in microchannels. This type of flows is a high-Knudsen number flow where present continuum theories seem inadequate to describe. We develop generalized hydrodynamic equations to study the problem.

  • Efficiency of nonlinear chemical oscillators driven by white and colored noise. In this project, we use analytical methods from stochastic calculus and we derive special numerical methods to solve the stochastic differential equations.

  • Reaction-diffusion equations. We also model Liesegang patterns using reaction-diffusion equation and we study the effect of the electric field of such patterns. The numerical results are compared with experiments carried at the Department.

Selected Publications

• Dynamics and dissipation of externally forced system, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP) 2, 3773 (2000).

• Front Propagation in Patterned Precipitation 1. Simulation of a Migrating Co(OH)2 Liesegang Pattern, Journal of Physical Chemistry 105(34), 8053-8058 (2001) (With R. Sultan).

• Generalized hydrodynamic theory of shock waves: Mach number dependence of Inverse Shock Width for Nitrogen Gas, Physical Review Letters 2001, 86, 4294 (With B.C. Eu).

• Generalized Hydrodynamic Theory of Shock Waves in Rigid Diatomic Gases, Physical Review E 2001, 64, 046303 (With B.C. Eu).