Allan Greenleaf to speak on the mathematics of invisibility

Allan Greenleaf, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Rochester, will visit Baylor University from November 30-December 2. He will lecture to the department on Monday, November 30 on his acclaimed collaborative work on the mathematics and physics behind making objects appear invisible. This research is called cloaking, a term inspired by none other than....Harry Potter! Interested readers can download a recent survey article, co-authored by Dr. Greenleaf, on this subject by clicking here.

The title of his lecture is "Transformation Optics: Cloaking and Beyond".

Abstract
Invisibility devices have long been a staple of science fiction, but in recent years there have been serious theoretical proposals for how such cloaks could be built, and even proof-of-concept experimental realizations. Mathematically, invisibility can be thought of as counterexamples to uniqueness theorems in inverse problems for partial differential equations. As a result, cloaking devices can (in principle) be built to yield "invisibility" not just for optics but for a variety of wave phenomena. Furthermore, other interesting effects on wave propagation are possible. I will discuss some of the mathematics and physics used for cloaking, and describe other transformation optics designs.