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A Spanish mathematician distinguished for his advances in a "millennium problem"

2020-02-19T16:53:50.405Z


Francisco Gancedo has been awarded for his work on the behavior of fluid particles and the resolution of a conjecture raised 24 years ago


Finding out the rules that govern the behavior of fluid particles brings scientists from many areas around the world to head. “I am going to ask God two questions: the reason for relativity and the reason for turbulence. I am optimistic in getting an answer to the first question. ” It is a phrase attributed to Albert Einstein and that, whether he said it or not, sums up the reason why this lack of answers is considered one of the seven "millennium problems," according to the Clay Mathematics Institute. The solution is not and will not be unique, but partial results can be found that light the way. Some of these have been found by Francisco Gancedo, Professor of Mathematical Analysis at the University of Seville and distinguished by his advances in this field.

Leonardo da Vinci already noticed the complexity of the chaotic movement of the fluids when they enter turbulence. The problem lies in everything that involves life, from the atmosphere to the mechanics of a vehicle or kitchen. "A classic problem is to understand how a fluid behaves when its particles move at high speed," explains Gancedo, who points out applications of research in this field to aspects such as meteorology, tides, waves or aircraft design or cars "A tsunami is a large body of water at high speed," he explains as an example of the value of understanding fluids to prevent or modify the effects of their behavior.

The studies cover three states of matter: liquid, gas and plasma. The movement of particles and the influence of aspects such as temperature, gravity or the presence of a magnetic field can generate "singularities" whose mathematical explanation opens infinite fields of application. That is where the partial derivative equations that are nonlinear come into play.

Gancedo (Seville, 1980) investigates the mathematical analysis of the formation and propagation of singularities in fluids, a field linked to the Navier-Stokes equations, named after Claude-Louis Marie Henri Navier and George Gabriel Stokes, who introduced the term viscosity in the equations. "I have worked on the problem with two fluids and have managed to solve a kind of singularity with several equations," explains the Sevillian mathematician.

A breakthrough has taken place before the conjecture raised in 1996 by Pierre-Louis Lions (Fields medal two years before)

A breakthrough, which he has achieved with Eduardo García-Juárez, has taken place before the conjecture raised in 1996 by Pierre-Louis Lions (Fields medal two years earlier) in Mathematical Topics in Fluid Mechanics on the evolution of two fluids in time. Spanish mathematicians have managed to demonstrate, with Navier-Stokes equations, that two fluids of different density that move did not generate singularities.

It has been a breakthrough in one of the problems of the millennium, in what the Romanian American mathematician Sergiu Klainerman has described as one of the most important challenges of the 21st century.

Gancedo's work continues. "Our advances to understand the behavior of fluids are used to predict the movements of fronts or tornadoes or to know the risks of constructions on land affected by faults or volcanoes," he says.

This field of mathematics has infinite applications on real problems

He is currently working on how waves or fluids behave in porous media, which would allow predicting the consequences of a spill on sandy ground. "This field of mathematics has infinite applications on real problems," he says while explaining that there are areas of research such as flotation in a stream or how heat is distributed or waves are propagated.

Francisco Gancedo is a Ramón y Cajal researcher in the Mathematical Analysis department of the University of Seville, where he has come after being a professor at the University of Chicago. He is José José Rubio de Francia (2008) and has been distinguished by the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society and the Royal Seville Academy of Sciences.

His work earned him in 2015 a grant of one million euros from the Starting Grant, the European Research Council (ERC) program for the creation of research groups. This February 19 collects the Manuel Losada Villasante award in the Scientific Research section. These awards, convened by the SER chain, with the collaboration of the City Council of Carmona, the Cajasol Foundation, Mercadona, Interalimentario Forum and the University of Seville, aim to promote and recognize the research activity in Andalusia.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2020-02-19

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