Alan Sokal

Professor of Physics

Education

Ph.D. 1981 (physics), Princeton; M.A., B.A. (summa cum laude) 1976 (physics), Harvard

Areas of Research/Interest

Quantum field theory, statistical mechanics, critical phenomena, polymer physics, mathematical physics, numerical methods in quantum field theory and statistical mechanics.

External Affiliations

International Association of Mathematical Physics, American Physical Society, American Mathematical Society. Editorial Board, Advances in Applied Mathematics.

Fellowships/Honors

Visiting Fellowship, All Souls College, Oxford University, 2000; Golden Dozen Teaching Award, New York University, 1996.

Publications

Transfer matrices and partition-function zeros for antiferromagnetic Potts models. I. General theory and square-lattice chromatic polynomial, with J. Salas. Journal of Statistical Physics 104 (2001) 609--699, cond-mat/0004330.

Bounds on the complex zeros of (di)chromatic polynomials and Potts-model partition functions. Combinatorics, Probability and Computing 10 (2001) 41-77, cond-mat/9904146.

Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science, with J. Bricmont. New York: Picador USA. 1998. Translated also into Catalan, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal) and Spanish.

Critical exponents, hyperscaling and universal amplitude ratios for two- and three-dimensional self-avoiding walks, with Li, B. and N. Madras. Journal of Statistical Physics 80 (1995) 661-754, hep-lat/9409003.

Regularity properties and pathologies of position-space renormalization-group transformations: Scope and limitations of Gibbsian theory, with Van Enter, A. C. D. and R. Fernández. Journal of Statistical Physics 72 (1993) 879-1167, hep-lat/9210032.

Random Walks, Critical Phenomena, and Triviality in Quantum Field Theory, with Fernández, R. and J. Fröhlich. New York: Springer-Verlag. 1992.

Monte Carlo Methods in Statistical Mechanics: Foundations and New Algorithms. Cours de Troisième Cycle de la Physique en Suisse Romande, 1989.