BU Professor Featured On Physics Website

Dr. Klaus Kirsten, a Baylor University associate professor of mathematics, is currently being featured in "60 Seconds With...Authors Edition," an interview-style question and answer segment on the Institute of Physics (IOP) Publishing's website.

"I was, of course, very honored to be featured alongside people I have admired since I was a student," Kirsten said.

The "60 Seconds With" segment highlights IOP authors around the world who have published papers that were essential in "advancing physics research in their particular subject area." The website has more than 100 interviews arranged according to the journal in which the authors' papers were published.

In 2004, Kirsten co-authored "Functional Determinants for General Sturm-Liouville Problems," a paper that explores mathematical equations that describe many problems in quantum mechanics. There has been a long-standing way to evaluate these quantities, but the techniques are very complex and hard to understand. Kirsten's paper greatly simplified and generalized the techniques so advanced undergraduate students could grasp them.

"By making these equations clearer and more straight-forward, the hope is to attract more students to this field," Kirsten said. "Before, it was too difficult and too involved for many students, but now it's more accessible and hopefully it will spur students to conduct research in this area."

Kirsten is planning to co-author a book outlining the generalized techniques. He hopes the book one day could be used in mathematical course work.

For more information, contact Klaus Kirsten at (254) 710-7600.