Date and time:  TUESDAY, November 3, 2009, 4:00 p.m., BLOC 627

Speaker:  Nick Costanzino, Pennsylvania State University

Title:  Analysis of short pulse propagation in dielectric media

Abstract:  The most fundamental equations describing the propagation of
light in a dielectric medium are the nonlinear Maxwell equations, which are
a system of coupled nonlinear hyperbolic equations. I will discuss some
recent progress in deriving reduced models for the propagation of pulses
that are relativley localized in space (and hence relatively broad in
frequency). This leads to several different competing models, each
incorporating different phenomena and different scales.  Finally I will
discuss what is known about existence and regularity of solutions to each of
the models, as well as the relationships between all the different reduced
models.