Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-2014

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Mathematics

Major Professor

Joan R. Lind

Committee Members

Michael W. Frazier, Suzanne M. Lenhart

Abstract

Schramm-Loewner Evolution (SLE) has both mathematical and physical roots that extend as far back as the early 20th century. We present the progression of these humble roots from the Ideal Gas Law, all the way to the renormalization group and conformal field theory, to better understand the impact SLE has had on modern statistical mechanics. We then explore the potential application of the percolation exploration process to crack propagation processes, illustrating the interplay between mathematics and physics.

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