Eric R. Bittner
Encyclopedia
Eric R. Bittner is a theoretical chemist, physicist, and distinguished professor of chemical physics at the University of Houston
.
in 1988. From 1988 to 1994 he worked with John C. Light at the University of Chicago
and obtained his Ph.D. thesis in 1994 on Quantum Theories of Energy Exchange at the Gas-Surface Interface. Subsequently, he worked at the University of Texas at Austin
until 1996 as Postdoctoral Fellow of the National Science Foundation
, with Peter J. Rossky as his mentor. He was visiting scholar at Stanford University
from 1995 to 1997, with Hans C. Andersen as his mentor.
In 1997 he joined the University of Houston as assistant professor of theoretical chemistry, where he became associate professor of theoretical chemistry in 2003. In summer of 2001, he worked as visiting faculty at the Center for Non-Linear Studies at Los Alamos National Lab.
Since 2009, Bittner is John and Rebecca Moores Distinguished Professor of chemical physics at the University of Houston
.
He has worked at the University of Cambridge
, the École Normale Supérieure
, Paris, and at Los Alamos National Lab and has collaborated, among others, with Robert E. Wyatt
.
.
Bittner and his co-workers have investigated organic semiconductors, in particular semiconductive polymer
s, the modulation and tuning of their electronic dynamics due to intramolecular vibrational motions of the polymers, and investigations into phonon
modes.
They have worked on energy transfer
in DNA
molecules using methods of molecular dynamics
, time-dependent density functional theory
(TD-DFT) and analytical lattice models
.
They have developed a quantum hydrodynamics
approach for computing the energies involved in quantum vibrations in small atomic clusters by combining the De Broglie–Bohm formulation of quantum mechanics and Baysian sampling, using this approach also to study quantum aspects of the thermodynamics of small rare gas clusters in thermal regions close to the clusters' melting point
.
Furthermore, they used supersymmetry
(SUSY) quantum mechanics for computing excitation energies of quantum systems using Monte Carlo calculations
.
The John and Rebecca Moores professorship was awarded to him as recognition for “outstanding work in both research and teaching”. In his nomination, special emphasis was placed on his seminal work on trajectory-base methods for performing quantum mechanical calculations.
Articles:
, Eric R. Bittner has published approximately 80 scientific papers. His publications on trajectory-based methods include:
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
.
Biography
Bittner obtained his B.S. in chemistry and in physics from Valparaiso UniversityValparaiso University
Valparaiso University, known colloquially as Valpo, is a regionally accredited private university located in the city of Valparaiso in the U.S. state of Indiana. Founded in 1859, it consists of five undergraduate colleges, a graduate school, a nursing school and a law school...
in 1988. From 1988 to 1994 he worked with John C. Light at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and obtained his Ph.D. thesis in 1994 on Quantum Theories of Energy Exchange at the Gas-Surface Interface. Subsequently, he worked at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
until 1996 as Postdoctoral Fellow of the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
, with Peter J. Rossky as his mentor. He was visiting scholar at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
from 1995 to 1997, with Hans C. Andersen as his mentor.
In 1997 he joined the University of Houston as assistant professor of theoretical chemistry, where he became associate professor of theoretical chemistry in 2003. In summer of 2001, he worked as visiting faculty at the Center for Non-Linear Studies at Los Alamos National Lab.
Since 2009, Bittner is John and Rebecca Moores Distinguished Professor of chemical physics at the University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
.
He has worked at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, the École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
, Paris, and at Los Alamos National Lab and has collaborated, among others, with Robert E. Wyatt
Robert E. Wyatt
Robert E. Wyatt is a professor of chemistry at University of Texas at Austin, Department Chemistry and Biochemistry.- Work :His work is focussed on theoretical chemistry, including the quantum theory of chemical reactions and the theory of intramolecular energy transfer...
.
Work
His main research interests lie with the dynamics of molecules in their excited electronic statesExcited state
Excitation is an elevation in energy level above an arbitrary baseline energy state. In physics there is a specific technical definition for energy level which is often associated with an atom being excited to an excited state....
.
Bittner and his co-workers have investigated organic semiconductors, in particular semiconductive polymer
Conductive polymer
Conductive polymers or, more precisely, intrinsically conducting polymers are organic polymers that conduct electricity. Such compounds may have metallic conductivity or can be semiconductors. The biggest advantage of conductive polymers is their processability, mainly by dispersion. Conductive...
s, the modulation and tuning of their electronic dynamics due to intramolecular vibrational motions of the polymers, and investigations into phonon
Phonon
In physics, a phonon is a collective excitation in a periodic, elastic arrangement of atoms or molecules in condensed matter, such as solids and some liquids...
modes.
They have worked on energy transfer
Energy transfer
Energy transfer is the transfer of energy from one body to another.There are a few main ways that energy transfer occurs:*Radiant energy *Heat conduction*Convection*Electrical power transmission*Mechanical work...
in DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
molecules using methods of molecular dynamics
Molecular dynamics
Molecular dynamics is a computer simulation of physical movements of atoms and molecules. The atoms and molecules are allowed to interact for a period of time, giving a view of the motion of the atoms...
, time-dependent density functional theory
Time-dependent density functional theory
Time-dependent density functional theory is a quantum mechanical theory used in physics and chemistry to investigate the properties and dynamics of many-body systems in the presence of time-dependent potentials, such as electric or magnetic fields...
(TD-DFT) and analytical lattice models
Lattice model (physics)
In physics, a lattice model is a physical model that is defined on a lattice, as opposed to the continuum of space or spacetime. Lattice models originally occurred in the context of condensed matter physics, where the atoms of a crystal automatically form a lattice. Currently, lattice models are...
.
They have developed a quantum hydrodynamics
Quantum hydrodynamics
Quantum hydrodynamics is most generally the study of hydrodynamic systems which demonstrate behavior implicit in quantum subsystems . They arise in semiclassical mechanics in the study of semiconductor devices, in which case being derived from the Wigner-Boltzmann equation...
approach for computing the energies involved in quantum vibrations in small atomic clusters by combining the De Broglie–Bohm formulation of quantum mechanics and Baysian sampling, using this approach also to study quantum aspects of the thermodynamics of small rare gas clusters in thermal regions close to the clusters' melting point
Melting point
The melting point of a solid is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depends on pressure and is usually specified at standard atmospheric pressure...
.
Furthermore, they used supersymmetry
Supersymmetry
In particle physics, supersymmetry is a symmetry that relates elementary particles of one spin to other particles that differ by half a unit of spin and are known as superpartners...
(SUSY) quantum mechanics for computing excitation energies of quantum systems using Monte Carlo calculations
Monte Carlo method
Monte Carlo methods are a class of computational algorithms that rely on repeated random sampling to compute their results. Monte Carlo methods are often used in computer simulations of physical and mathematical systems...
.
Awards
Bittner has received several grants and awards for his work:- 2009 John and Rebecca Moores Professorship.
- 2008 University of Houston Research Excellence Award
- 2007 to 2008 Guggenheim Fellow
- 2003 Wiley/Internation Journal of Quantum Chemistry Young Investigator Award
- 1999 NSF CAREER Award
- 1995 to 1997 NSF Postdoctoral Fellow
- 1994 Elizabeth R. Norton Prize for Excellence in Research in Chemistry (University of Chicago)
- 1988 Lumina Award (Valparaiso University)
The John and Rebecca Moores professorship was awarded to him as recognition for “outstanding work in both research and teaching”. In his nomination, special emphasis was placed on his seminal work on trajectory-base methods for performing quantum mechanical calculations.
Publications
Books:- Eric R. Bittner: Quantum Dynamics: Application in Biological and Materials Systems, CRC PressCRC PressThe CRC Press, LLC is a publishing group which specializes in producing technical books. While many of their books relate to engineering, science and mathematics, their scope also includes books on business, forensics and information technology...
, 2009, ISBN 978-1420080537
Articles:
, Eric R. Bittner has published approximately 80 scientific papers. His publications on trajectory-based methods include:
- Eric R. Bittner, Donald J. Kouri, Sean Derrickson, and Jeremy B. Maddox: Variational Quantum Hydrodynamics, in: Xavier Oriols and Jordi Mompart (eds.), Applied Bohmian Dynamics (invited review chapter), 2010, http://k2.chem.uh.edu/preprints/draft-bittner.pdf
- Eric R. Bittner: Quantum initial value representations using approximate Bohmian trajectories, Journal of Chemical Physics, vol.&nbso;119, no. 3, 2003, DOI: 10.1063/1.1580471 arXiv: quant-ph/0304012
- Eric R. Bittner, Donald J. Kouri: Quantum dynamics and super-symmetric quantum mechanicsSupersymmetric quantum mechanicsIn theoretical physics, supersymmetric quantum mechanics is an area of research where mathematical concepts from high-energy physics are applied to the seemingly more prosaic field of quantum mechanics.-Introduction:...
, in P. K. Chattaraj (ed.): Quantum Trajectories, CRC Press, 2010, http://k2.chem.uh.edu/preprints/SUSY-Wales-paper.pdf - Jeremy B. Maddox, Eric R. Bittner Estimating Bohm’s quantum force using Bayesian statistics , Journal of Chemical Physics 119, pp. 6465, 2003, DOI: 10.1063/1.1604772, http://k2.chem.uh.edu/preprints/bayes.pdf
- Robert E. Wyatt, Eric R. Bittner: Quantum wave packet dynamics with trajectories: Implementation with adaptive Lagrangian grids of the amplitude of the wave function, Journal of Chamical Physics, vol. 113, no. 20, 22 November 2000, http://k2.chem.uh.edu/group/OldStuff/Papers/JCP-WB.pdf
- Andrey Preverzev and Eric R. Bittner: Hamiltonian Approach for Wavepacket Dynamics: Beyond Gaussian Wavepackets, ,Physics Letters A, vol. 373, pp. 2215-2218, 2009, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0375960109005374
External links
- Eric R. Bittner, Department of Chemistry, Faculty member page, Curriculum Vitae and Eric Bittner, publications and preprints list, University of Houston
- Curriculum Vitae, University of Houston
- ResearchCrossroads
- Mendeley publications list
- ScientificCommons publications list
- Guggenheim Fellowship announcement, Eurekalert
- Quantum clusters: finite temperature variational quantum hydrodynamics