directory

core faculty

affiliated faculty

Jean M. Carlson

Professor
Physics
carlson@lob.physics.ucsb.edu 
Departmental web page
Complex Systems Group
Tel. 805-893-8345
Fax. 805-893-8838
6239 Broida Hall

Research Interests

The research interests of my group revolve around the nonequilibrium properties of complex interconnected systems with many degrees of freedom. Specific topics fall into two occasionally overlapping areas. One involves general studies of the basic mechanisms through which complexity leads to broad distributions of events (power laws). This includes work on self-organized criticality, and more recently the introduction of a new mechanism, referred to as Highly Optimized Tolerance (HOT), which is based on biological evolution and engineering design. The second area involves developing models for friction, fracture, and deformation at both  the laboratory scale and in seismological applications. Most recently, we have been working on models for laboratory friction in the boundary lubrication regime, and applying general concepts which emerge from this work to large scale earthquake models.