Dr M Barahona

Dr. Mauricio Barahona obtained a PhD in Theoretical Physics (Condensed Matter and Dynamical Systems) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under the supervision of Steve Strogatz (Mathematics) and Mehran Kardar (Physics). His thesis dealt with the spatio-temporal dynamics of networks of Josephson junctions—superconducting electronic devices which can be described as coupled nonlinear oscillators. Concurrently, he developed algorithmic tools which, using concepts of information theory and dynamical systems, allow for the sensitive statistical detection of nonlinear dynamics in data. He then conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology. At Stanford, he worked on generic properties of array synchronization with applications to pattern detection. At Caltech, in the Department of Control and Dynamical Systems, he concentrated on rigorous bounds of model reduction techniques, and on the analysis of network dynamics using graph-theoretical concepts. He came to Imperial as a Lecturer in 2001 and became a Reader in Biomathematics in 2004.

Distinctions & Awards: Dr Barahona was awarded two national prizes in Spain: the Enrique Moles Award and the National Prize of the Ministry of Education. He also received a Fulbright Scholarship and a MEC postdoctoral grant. He was the recipient of the Whitaker Prize of the US Biomedical Engineering Society. He was also the Edison International Fellow at Caltech.

Research Interests: Broadly interested in applied mathematics in biomedical, physical and engineering systems.

	Dynamics of interconnected nonlinear systems. Robustness and graph-theoretical analyses of genetic, metabolic and engineering networks. Connections between dynamics and algebraic graph theory. Dynamics of small-world networks.
	Theory of synchronization. Coupled oscillators in biology and medicine. Spatio-temporal dynamics of oscillatory media.
	Algorithms for nonlinear signal analysis. Nonlinear detection in the presence of noise, especially in physical and bio-physiological systems. Open issues: non-stationarity, dynamical noise, surrogate data generation.
	Robust model reduction of high dimensional systems.
	Characterization and control of self-assembly in physical networks. Nanotube wiring arrays and percolating conducting composites.


Research group:
	PhD students: Stephen Alley, Elias August, Martin Cansdale, Kathryn Cooper, Martin Hemberg, John Yu Post-doctoral researchers (within the Mathematics Institute): Jean-Charles Delvenne, Ramon Grima

Associations (within Imperial):

Recent funding: Royal Society, EPSRC, Wellcome

Collaborators: Mac Beasley (Applied Physics & EE, Stanford), Andrew Doherty (Physics, Queensland), John Doyle (Control and Dynamical Systems, Caltech), Ali Jadbabaie (Electrical and Systems Engineering, UPenn), Pablo Parrilo (LIDS-EECS, MIT), Lou Pecora (Condensed Matter, Naval Research Lab-Washington, DC), Steve Strogatz (Applied Math, Cornell), Mario Sznaier (Electrical Engineering, Penn State), Richard Templer (Chemistry, Imperial).

Selected Recent Publications:

Network dynamics
	M Barahona and L Pecora, Synchronization in small world systems, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 054101 (2002). L. Pecora and M. Barahona, Synchronization of oscillators in complex networks, Chaos and Complexity Letters, 1, 61 (2005)

Self-assembly of networks
	M.R. Diehl et al., Self-assembled, deterministic carbon nanotube wiring networks, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 41, 353 (2002). (VIP in Angewandte Chemie). (See comment in Nature by Philip Ball, www.nature.com/nsu/020128/020128-2.html) M. Hemberg, S.N. Yaliraki and M. Barahona, Stochastic kinetics of viral capsid assembly based on detailed protein structures, Biophys. J., 90, 3029 (2006)

Robust model reduction
	M. Barahona et al., Finite Horizon Model Reduction and the Appearance of Dissipation in Hamiltonian Systems, Proc. IEEE CDC 2002,Special Invited Session. M Sznaier et al., A new bound of the L₂ [0,T]-induced norm and applications to model reduction, Proc. 2002 ACC, 1180 (2002).

Nonlinear series analysis
	CS Poon and M Barahona, Titration of chaos with added noise, PNAS 98, 7107 (2001). M Barahona and CS Poon, Detection of nonlinear dynamics in short, noisy series, Nature 381, 215 (1996).

Synchronization of nonlinear oscillators
	A Jadbabaie, N Motee, M Barahona, On the Stability of the Kuramoto Model of Coupled Nonlinear Oscillators, Proc. 2004 ACC. M Barahona and MR Beasley, A fast correlator based on arrays of coupled oscillators, (submitted to Applied Physics Letters).

Spatio-temporal dynamics of Josephson junction arrays
	M Barahona and SH Strogatz, Pinned states in Josephson arrays: A general stability theorem, Phys Rev B 58, 5215 (1998). M Barahona and S Watanabe, Row-switched states in two-dimensional underdamped Josephson junction arrays, Phys Rev B 57, 10893 (1998). HSJ van der Zant et al., Dynamics of one-dimensional Josephson-junction arrays, Physica D 119, 219 (1998). M Barahona, SH Strogatz, TP Orlando, Superconducting states and depinning transitions of Josephson ladders, Phys Rev B 57, 1181 (1998); erratum, Phys Rev B 58, 5874 (1998). M Barahona et al., Resonances of dynamical checkerboard states in Josephson arrays with self-inductance, Phys Rev B 55, R11989 (1997).

Dr. M. Barahona

Dept. of Bioengineering

Imperial College London

South Kensington Campus

London SW7 2AZ

Tel: 020 7594 5189

m dot barahona at imperial.ac.uk