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Partial differential equations

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Mathematicians Prove Universal Law of Turbulence

February 4, 2020

By exploiting randomness, three mathematicians have proved an elegant law that underlies the chaotic motion of turbulent systems.

For Fluid Equations, a Steady Flow of Progress

January 13, 2020

A startling experimental discovery about how fluids behave started a wave of important mathematical proofs.

Famous Fluid Equations Spring a Leak

December 18, 2019

Researchers have spent centuries looking for a scenario in which the Euler fluid equations fail. Now a mathematician has finally found one.

Mathematician Proves Huge Result on ‘Dangerous’ Problem

December 11, 2019

Mathematicians regard the Collatz conjecture as a quagmire and warn each other to stay away. But now Terence Tao has made more progress than anyone in decades.

Black Hole Singularities Are as Inescapable as Expected

December 2, 2019

For the first time, physicists have calculated exactly what kind of singularity lies at the center of a realistic black hole.

Karen Uhlenbeck, Uniter of Geometry and Analysis, Wins Abel Prize

March 19, 2019

A founder of modern geometric analysis who produced “some of the most dramatic advances in mathematics in the last 40 years,” Uhlenbeck is the first woman to be awarded this top honor.

The Trouble With Turbulence

January 28, 2019

Turbulence is everywhere, yet it is one of the most difficult concepts for physicists to understand.

A Traveler Who Finds Stability in the Natural World

August 1, 2018

The mathematician Alessio Figalli is rarely in one place for very long. But his work has established the stability of everything from crystals to weather fronts by using concepts derived from Napoleonic fortifications.

Mathematicians Tame Turbulence in Flattened Fluids

June 27, 2018

By squeezing fluids into flat sheets, researchers can get a handle on the strange ways that turbulence feeds energy into a system instead of eating it away.

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