Ms. Kelly Dickson, October 8, 2007

Numerical Continuation for Atomic and Molecular Fluids

ABSTRACT: Numerical continuation is the process of solving systems of nonlinear parameter dependent equations for various parameter values. Continuation studies are often helpful in understanding changes in a physical or natural system.  In particular, as a fluid changes density or temperature, one can observe crucial transitions in structural and thermodynamic properties.  In this talk, I present new integral equation theory for atomic and molecular fluids developed at the Institute for Molecular Design at the University of Houston.  Further, I discuss a new  implementation of this theory in the context of numerical continuation using Trilinos, a software framework developed at Sandia National Labs.





BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Kelly Dickson, a former Mathematics major at JMU, is currently finishing her Ph.D. at North Carolina State University in Applied Mathematics under her thesis advisor C.T. Kelley.  Her research interests include numerical continuation and bifurcation analysis, numerical linear and nonlinear equations, matrix theory, and continuation applied to particle fluids.  Kelly is also the President of NCSU's SIAM Student Chapter and a member of the NCSU Math Graduate Student Association.