Date: Wednesday, November 3rd, 2004 Refreshments: Served at 3:15pm Lecture: 4:00 - 5:00pm Location: Keene Faculty Center, Dauer Hall

Abstract: Our understanding of various phenomena generally increases by developing new perspectives. Coherent states provide new analytic perspectives by using additional variables. After briefly reviewing a variety of coherent state representations, several applications are considered. These applications apply to both wave and ray descriptions of acoustic, optical, and mechanical systems. While conventional descriptions of such systems may encounter difficulties when caustics occur, it is shown how the use of coherent states can overcome these problems. For mechanical systems, two simple examples illustrate how the quantum (wave) world can make a tiny but nevertheless profound imprint on the appropriate classical (ray) world.

Sponsored by The Mathematical Sciences Committee. The mission of the Committee is to identify emerging scientific fields that have strong mathematical components; promote education in these fields; encourage and support collaborative research; coordinate responses to interdisciplinary proposal solicitations; and explore more formal organizational structures that will bridge the mathematical sciences and their applications.

Created Thursday, November 3, 2004.
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Last update made Sun Dec 4 20:51:20 EST 2005.