Mathematics and Statistics

Science Colloquium: Scientific computation applied to classical and quantum problems

Author: UNB

Posted on Apr 4, 2014

Category: Seminars and Colloquia

Science Colloquium 2014:

Scientific computation applied to classical and quantum problems

Thursday, April 10 at 3:30 p.m., Dineen Auditorium (Head Hall C13)

Computer-assisted drug design

Dr Ghislain Deslongchamps Department of Chemistry, UNB Fredericton

Computers are revolutionizing how drugs are developed in the pharmaceutical industry. Modern molecular modelling in conjunction with new strategies for drug design promises to accelerate the typical 15 year-long development pipeline. Conceptual basics as well as live demos will be presented.

Quantum dynamics in the early universe

Dr Sanjeev Seahra Department of Mathematics and Statistics, UNB Fredericton

Standard cosmological models tell us that shortly after the big bang, the universe was very dense and very hot.  For many years, cosmologists have speculated that a quantum theory of gravity should be important in such an energetic epoch.  On March 17, that hypothesis was given substantial support by the discovery of primordial gravitational waves (a key prediction of quantum gravity) by the BICEP2 experiment.  In this talk, I will discuss how to use high performance computing facilities to conduct simulations of quantum dynamics in the early universe and hence obtain observationally testable predictions.