Linking the ab initio quantum mechanical description of materials to the physical behavior of real materials; involving identification of problems where the quantum perspective can make a significant impact, exploitation of theoretical techniques and supercomputer architectures to carry out large scale quantum calculations, and development of new theoretical techniques to link ab initio calculations with phenomena on larger scales. Application areas include mechanical properties of materials, electronic and spectroscopic signatures of extended crystalline defects, properties of nanoscale devices and fundamental processes involved in crystal growth.

1. ``Ab initio approach for high-pressure systems with application to high-pressure phases of boron: perturbative momentum-space potentials,'' by D.E. Segall and T.A. Arias, Physical Review B67, 064105 (2003). Preprint: arXiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0004154 .

    

2. ``Robust ab initio calculation of condensed matter: transparent convergence through semicardinal multiresolution analysis,'' by I.P. Daykov, T.D. Engeness, and T.A. Arias, Physical Review Letters 90:21, 216402 (2003). Preprint: arXiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0204411 .

    

3. ``Ab initio and finite-temperature molecular dynamics studies of lattice resistance in tantalum,'' by D.E. Segall, Strachan Alejandro, William A. Goddard III, Sohrab Ismail-Beigi, T.A. Arias, Physical Review B, 68:1, 014104 (July 2003). Preprint: arXiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0212156 .

    

4. ``Electron-phonon scattering in metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes'', by Ji-Yong Park, Sami Rosenblatt, Yuval Yaish, Vera Sazonova, Hande Ustunel, Stephan Braig, T.A. Arias, Piet Brouwer and Paul L. McEuen, Nano Letters 4, 517-520 (2004).
   Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0309641 .

    

5. ``A tunable carbon nanotube electromechanical oscillator,'' by V. Sazonova, Y. Yaish, H. Üstünel, D. Roundy, T.A. Arias and P.L. McEuen, Nature, 431, 284-287 (2004).
   Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0409407 .

    

6. ``Ab initio mechanical response: internal friction and structure of divacancies in silicon,'' by H. Üstünel, D. Roundy and T.A. Arias, Physical Review Letters 94, 025503(1-4) (January 2005). Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0407573 .

    

7. ``Modelling a suspended nanotube oscillator,'' by H. Üstünel, D. Roundy and T.A. Arias, Nano Letters 5, 523-526 (February 2005). Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0411353 .

    

8. ``Joint density-functional theory: ab initio study of CrO surface chemistry in solution,'' by S. Petrosyan, A.A. Rigos and T.A. Arias, Journal of Physical Chemistry B 109(32), 15436-15444 (June 2005). Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0411523 .

    

9. ``Joint density-functional theory for electronic structure of solvated systems,'' by S.A. Petrosyan, Jean-Francois Briere, David Roundy and T.A. Arias, Physical Review B, 205105 (May 2007). Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0606817 .

    

10. ``Three-Dimensional Imaging of Carbon Nanotubes Deformed by Metal Islands,'' by Judy J. Cha, Matthew Weyland, Jean-Francois Briere, Ivan P. Daykov, Tomas A. Arias, and David A. Muller, Nano Letters 7(12), 3770-3773 (December 2007).

     

11. ``Cluster assimilation and collisional filtering on metal-oxide surfaces,'' by Daniel A. Freedman and T.A. Arias, Physical Review Letters, in review. Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0606014 .

• Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Outstanding Paper Prize (2001).
• Selected for APS Public Face for Physics (PFP) program (1998).
• MIT School of Science Undergraduate Teaching Prize (1997).
• Department of Energy Defense Programs Young Scientist (1996).
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow (1995).
• Eugene Sullivan Award for work in theoretical physics (Corning Glass Works,1993).
• MIT Andrew Moore Lockett III Award for excellence in theoretical physics (1990).
• Elected to Sigma Xi (1986).
• AT&T Cooperative Research Fellow (1986).
• Attained highest possible undergraduate GPA at MIT (1986).
• Elected to Phi Beta Kappa; Sigma Pi Sigma (1986).
• Offered MIT Applied Mathematics Fellowship (1986).