Professor of Physics
Levich Institute and
Physics Department
City College of New York
Steinman Hall, T1M-12
140th Street and Convent Avenue
New York, NY 10031-9198
(212) 650-6847, (212) 650-6835 (fax)
This is the lab of Hernán Makse at
the
Levich Institute
and
Department of Physics of
City College of New York in New York City.
We focus on the study of jammed matter, spanning from
colloidal suspensions, dense emulsions to granular materials
and glasses in search of unifying theoretical frameworks. We
explore this variety of out of equilibrium systems in terms of
their behavior as they experience structural arrest or
jamming. The group focuses on the theoretical and
computational approaches in parallel with the experiments,
creating a productive research environment. We are also
interested in the theoretical understanding of complexity. We
are working towards the development of new arquitectural laws
for complex networks, from biological systems, to the
Internet, the web, to social networks.
Most of what we do is
somehow related to "emergent properties", i.e., "properties
not contained in the simple laws of physics, although they are
a consequence of them".
For the latest research, see a feature article in the Journal of Student Research, and the
presentations on
granular matter,
colloidal glasses and emulsions,
jamming transition,
effective temperature in granular matter,
Edwards statistical mechanics of jammed matter, random
close packing (RCP), polydisperse and non-spherical packings,
nonlinear elasticity of granular
matter,
fractal complex networks and renormalization group, and
urban
economics and cities. To download data and computer codes for: (a)
Molecular Dynamics (DEM) of granular matter, (b) fractal analysis of
complex networks, (c) Clustering Analysis of cities, (d) experimental
data on colloids and glasses, (e) generating sequences with long-range
correlations, (f) calculating all minima and transition states of the
energy landscape in small clusters of LJ and Hertz particles, (g)
hard sphere packings from RLP to FCC, and (h) fMRI brain data visit
SOFTWARE AND DATA.
Science Highlights:
The conundrum of brain networks: small-world or fractal
modularity? Paper.
Dataset of brain networks available at here.
Best Connected Individuals May Not Be the Most Influential
Spreaders in Social Networks.
How to define RCP in the Edwards thermodynamic
framework. Physica A 2010.
The codes to generate hard spheres packing from random loose
packings to FCC can be downloaded
here.
Fractal babies: We investigate the network of human cell
differentiation from the fertilized egg up to a crying baby. PNAS, 2010.
The City
Clustering Algorithm, CCA, allows for a test of Zipf's law for
cities of all sizes. We find (ta,tan,ta,tan..) that Zipf's
law is surprisingly valid upto small cities of a few hundred
inhabitants. Collaboration with Xavier Gabaix, Stern, NYU. Paper on Zipf's law for all cities. To
appear in the American Economic Review. Below is an image of
all the population clusters identified by the CCA in the USA
and the CCA cluster around London superimposed with a Google
maps.
Statistical patterns in human
communication and growth of cities.
We find scaling laws
in human communication patterns (PNAS).
A recent paper
presents a new way to define cities based on clustering
algorithms from percolation theory. We find that the growth
rate of cities and its standard deviation follow (surprise,
surprise..) power-laws with the city size, in contradiction to
Gibrat's law.
Renormalization Group analysis in fractal complex networks
The small world-fractal transition and
information flow. See recent paper in
Phys. Rev. Lett. 2010.
The following follow up papers are in Physica A and in cond-mat: Jamming I: A Hamiltonian for jammed matter.
Jamming II:
A phase diagram for jammed matter.
Jamming III: Characterizing Randomness via the Entropy of Jammed Matter.
Jamming IV:
A distribution of volumes and coordination number in jammed matter: mesoscopic approximation.
Jamming V: Jamming in two dimensions.
A set of papers from Onsager
virial theory of thin rods (1949) to Edwards thermodynamics of grains
(1989). Selection of papers from
Hales on the solution of the Kepler conjecture.
Comparison of CCA for cities and Google Earth for London. Databases for USA, UK and Africa from PNAS paper.
Misa Criolla
by Mercedes Sosa and Ariel Ramirez.
Gloria a Dios en las alturas, y en la Tierra, paz a los hombres..
Zamba para no morir by Mercedes Sosa and Hamlet (Lima
Quintana). Mi razon no pide piedad, se dispone a partir, no me gusta
la muerte ritual, solo dormir, verme borrar, una historia me
recordara, vivo.
Veo el campo, el fruto, la miel, y estas ganas de amar. No me puede el
olvido vencer, hoy como ayer, siempre llegar, en el hijo se puede
volver, nuevo.
Cancion del Derrumbe Indio by Mercedes Sosa. Juntito a mi
corazon, charango, charanguito, que dulce voz. Ayudame a llorar, el
bien que ya perdi. Tuve un Imperio del Sol, grande y feliz. El blanco
me lo quito, charanguito. Llora mi raza vencida por otra
civilizacion.. Charango, charanguito, que gran dolor...
Lost in the Woods. A clay animation movie by Milena (.wmv) when she was 4 years old after taking a class on Animation at the Children's Museum of the Arts in New York.
Rock
stratification from Petra. How to build the stratification cell. A nice
activity for school teachers. Collaboration with the SEED project at
Schlumberger.
Paper: "Granular Packings I: Nonlinear elasticity,
sound propagation, and slow relaxation dynamics", by
Makse, Gland, Johnson,
and Schwartz. Download: postscript or
pdf .
La donna e mobile,
Qual piuma al vento,
Muta d'accento - e di pensiero.
Sempre un amabile,
Leggiadro viso,
In pianto o in riso, - e menzognero.
La donna e mobil,
qual piuma al vento,
Muta d'accento e di pensier!
e di pensier!
e di pensier!
E sempre misero,
Chi a lei s'affida,
Chi le confida - mal cauto il cuore!
Pur mai non sentesi,
Felice appieno,
Chi su quel seno - non liba amore!
Volver, Carlos Gardel
Yo adivino el parpadeo,
De las luces que a lo lejos,
Van marcando mi retorno...
Son las mismas que alumbraron,
Con sus palidos reflejos,
Hondas horas de dolor..
Y aunque no quise el regreso,
Siempre se vuelve al primer amor..
La vieja calle donde el eco dijo.
Tuya es su vida, tuyo es su querer,
Bajo el burlon mirar de las estrellas.
Que con indiferencia hoy me ven volver...
Volver... con la frente marchita,
Las nieves del tiempo platearon mi sien...
Sentir... que es un soplo la vida,
Que veinte años no es nada,
Que febril la mirada, errante en las sombras,
Te busca y te nombra.
Vivir... con el alma aferrada.
A un dulce recuerdo.
Que lloro otra vez...
Tengo miedo del encuentro.
Con el pasado que vuelve.
A enfrentarse con mi vida...
Tengo miedo de las noches.
Que pobladas de recuerdos.
Encadenan mi soñar...
Pero el viajero que huye.
Tarde o temprano detiene su andar...
Y aunque el olvido, que todo destruye,
Haya matado mi vieja ilusion,
Guardo escondida una esperanza humilde.
Que es toda la fortuna de mi corazón.
Volver... con la frente marchita,
Las nieves del tiempo platearon mi sien...
Sentir... que es un soplo la vida,
Que veinte años no es nada,
Que febril la mirada, errante en las sombras,
Te busca y te nombra.
Vivir... con el alma aferrada.
A un dulce recuerdo.
Que lloro otra vez...