Turgay Uzer
Regents' Professor

Ph.D., Harvard University, 1979
Phone: (404)894-4986
Fax: (404) 385-2506
Room: Howey-W511A

EMail: turgay.uzer [at] physics.gatech.edu

 

■ Research ■

My research interests lie at the broad interface of theoretical atomic, molecular, and chemical physics with nonlinear dynamics and chaos. Quantal, classical or semiclassical methods, are used to research the dynamics of microscopic (atomic/ molecular) systems whose classical behavior can exhibit chaos.

The application of nonlinear dynamics to the microscopic, quantal world of atoms and molecules has provided fascinating insights into their behavior. A thicket of experimental and/or theoretical data (spectral lines, energy levels, trajectories), usually conceals these insights. Classical and semiclassical methods (sometimes described with some humor as "postmodern"), are often unrivalled in providing an intuitive and computationally tractable approach to the study of such phenomena. Often, structures underlying a profusion of experimental or computational data can be uncovered in a single picture by combining the Correspondence Principle with the perturbation approaches developed by the giants of astronomy for planetary interactions to perform "celestial mechanics on a microscopic scale".

■ Publications ■

1. "Time-Dependent Transition State Theory", T. Bartsch, J.M. Moix, R. Hernandez, S. Kawai, and T. Uzer, Adv. Chem. Phys., 140, 191-238 (2008).
2. "Dynamical bottlenecks to intramolecular energy flow", R. Paskauskas, C. Chandre, and T. Uzer, Phys. Rev. Letts., 100, 083001 (2008).
3. "How Periodic orbit bifurcations drive multiphoton ionization", S. Huang, C. Chandre, and T. Uzer, J. Phys. B, 40, F181-F187 (2007).
4. "Extracting multidimensional phase space topology from periodic orbits", S. Gekle, J. Main, T. Bartsch and T. Uzer, Phys. Rev. Lett., 97, 104101 (2006).
5. "Transition State in an Noisy Environment", T. Bartsch, R. Hernandez, and T. Uzer, Phys. Rev. Lett., 95, 058301 (2005).
6. "A New Look at the Transition State: Wigner’s Dynamical Perspective Revisited", C. Jaff , S. Kawai, J Palacián, P. Yanguas, and T. Uzer, Adv. Chem. Phys. 130A, 171-216 (2005).
7. "Time-Frequency Analysis of Chaotic Systems", C. Chandre, S. Wiggins, and T. Uzer, Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena 181, 171-196 (2003).
8. "Statistical Theory of Asteroid Escape Rates", C. Jaff, S. D. Ross, M. W. Lo, J. E. Marsden, D. Farrelly, and T. Uzer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 11101-11104 (2002). See also Physical Review Focus article at: http://www.chem.wvu.edu/cjaffe/publications/focus_2002.pdf
9. "The Geometry of Reaction Dynamics", T. Uzer, C. Jaff, J. Palacian, P. Yanguas, and S. Wiggins, Nonlinearity 15, 957-992 (2002).
   This article was selected to appear on the journal's Highlights webpage at www.iop.org/journals/non/highlights.
10. "Celestial Mechanics on a Microscopic Scale", T. Uzer, D. Farrelly, J.A. Milligan, P.E. Raines, and Joel P. Skelton, Science 253, 42 (1991).