Razvan C. Fetecau

Professor of Mathematics

Department of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6

E-mail: van(at)math.sfu.ca
Phone: 1-778-782-3335
Office: Mathematics Department, SC K 10519

Research Interests

  • Mathematical models for self-collective/swarming behaviour (theory and applications)

  • Regularizations of fluid dynamics equations, Kuramoto-Sivashinsky and other related equations

  • Numerical methods and mathematical modeling and analysis for multi-scale phenomena, with emphasis on fluid dynamics; particle methods

  • Geometric mechanics and its relation to numerical algorithms for mechanical systems, symplectic integration, variational methods for collisions


    Recent Research

    My recent research concerns mathematical modelling and analysis of swarming and self-collective behaviour. The topic has received a great amount of interest in recent years due to applications of such models in a variety of areas, including population biology (chemotaxis of cells, swarming or flocking of animals), physics and chemistry (self-assembly of nano-particles), robotics and space missions, traffic and pedestrian flow, opinion formation.

    One of the goals of my research is to understand the emergent behaviour in continuum and multi-particle systems with non-local interactions. The models I have worked on have demonstrated emergence of very complex behaviour as a consequence of individuals following simple interaction rules, without any leader or external coordination. Indeed, natural swarms (birds or fish for instance) achieve self-organizing behaviour through local signalling, in the absence of a centralized decision-making mechanism. Such biologically-inspired swarming considerations are at the core of the models I have studied.

    From the point of view of theory, I have investigated qualitative properties of swarm equilibria (in free space, as well as in domains with boundaries), existence of global minimizers of the interaction energy, regularization by diffusion, the effect of anisotropy, and extensions of aggregation models to surface and manifold settings. In terms of applications, I have worked on biological swarms, autonomous robots, opinion formation and crime modelling. Click on the link below to find my publications.

    Publications

    Curriculum Vitae


    Math Links

  • Stanford Mathematics

  • Caltech Applied & Computational Mathematics