Serfaty presents research on superconductivity.
French mathematician Sylvia Serfaty spoke about her research on point systems with Coulomb interactions, in a plenary session on the second day of the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM 2018) in Rio de Janeiro.
His research deals with how particles, such as atomic particles, organize themselves in a plane through forces of attraction and repulsion.
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“There are particles that repel each other; they want to be far away from each other, but are still forced to remain together,” he said. “How do they organize themselves, what patterns do they form to avoid each other? On a two-dimensional surface, the best way is in a lattice pattern of triangles.”
From this, she studies models of superconductivity and superfluidity, as well as the effect of temperature on the microscopic behavior of particles. Higher temperatures lead to greater particle disorganization and higher entropy.
Serfaty was introduced on stage by fellow Frenchman Cedric Villani, who has known her for two decades. According to him, the mathematician is part of one of the most promising generations of French mathematicians to emerge in the 1990s.