Robin Young

Robin Young

Professor

Associate Department Head for Curriculum; Director, Undergraduate Program

Pronouns:

he/him

Personal Webpage

Office:

LGRT 1426

Phone:

413-545-1726

Email:

Alternate Email:

Education

Ph.D. University of California, Davis, 1991
B.Sc.Hons. University of the Witwatersrand, 1985
B.Sc. University of the Witwatersrand, 1984

Mailing Address

Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Lederle Graduate Research Tower
University of Massachusetts
710 N. Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003-9305

Research Interests

Nonlinear PDE, Classical Mechanics

Robin Young studies nonlinear waves and their interactions in hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, particularly the equations of fluid dynamics and classical mechanics. When nonlinearity is present, shock waves generically form, and these waves and their interactions lead to beautiful and complicated wave patterns. Young studies the nature and evolution of solutions by identifying ordering principles and resonances in these wave patterns. These studies reveal several intriguing and unexpected phenomena, such as amplitude blowup, vacuums and periodicity of solutions.

In his most recent work, together with Blake Temple, Young has proved the existence of a large class of nonlinear sound waves, which are smooth, time-periodic oscillatory solutions of the compressible Euler equations. This work resolves a 175 year old paradox regarding sound waves versus shock waves, and also provides the first rigorous justification of Acoustics, which is the study of sound using the linear wave equation.

Selected Publications

See my research page.

You are here

Education

Mailing Address

Department of Mathematics and Statistics