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Professor Michael Wilkinson

Profile summary

Professional biography

B.Sc. in Mathematical Physics, Leeds, 1981
Ph.D. in Physics, Bristol, 1984
Weingart Fellow in Theoretical Physics, Caltech, 1984-6
Faculty member, Physics and Applied Physics, Strathclyde, 1986-2000,
(promoted to personal chair in Theoretical Solid-State Physics, 1998). 
Maxwell Medal, Institute of Physics, 1997.
Professor of Applied Mathematics, Open University,  2000-2019,
Emeritus Professor, Open University, 2019 to date.

Research interests

My research work is primarily in theoretical physics. The emphasis is on achieving a thorough understanding of physically realistic model problems using analytical methods, numerical  investigations and (in some cases) simple experiments. I have worked on problems arising in solid-state physics, quantum mechanics, statistical physics, fluid dynamics, biophysics, genomics and astrophysics.

External collaborations

Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub

 

Publications

Flux-conserving directed percolation (2024)
Cucurull, Barto; Huber, Greg; Kawagoe, Kyle; Pradas, Marc; Pumir, Alain and Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 57, Article 75001(7)


Lubrication dynamics of a settling plate (2023-12-25)
Wilkinson, Andrew; Pradas, Marc and Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 977, Article A28


Universal Chern number statistics in random matrix fields (2023)
Swartzberg, Or; Wilkinson, Michael and Gat, Omri
SciPost Physics, 15, Article 15


Quantifying the Lucky Droplet Model for Rainfall (2022-12-23)
Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Statistical Physics, 190, Article 37


Mean square winding angle of Brownian motion around an impenetrable cylinder (2022)
Hannay, J H and Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 55, Article 234007(23)


Correlations of quantum curvature and variance of Chern numbers (2021-06-21)
Gat, Omri and Wilkinson, Michael
SciPost Physics, 10, Article 149


Polysomally protected viruses (2021-04-07)
Wilkinson, Michael; Yllanes, David and Huber, Greg
Physical Biology, 18, Article 46009(4)


Flooding dynamics of diffusive dispersion in a random potential (2021)
Wilkinson, Michael; Pradas, Marc and Kling, Gerhard
Journal of Statistical Physics, 182, Article 54(3)


Polymorphism of Genetic Ambigrams (2021)
Dudas, Gytis; Huber, Greg; Wilkinson, Michael and Yllanes, David
Virus Evolution, 7, Article veab038(1)


Numerical coalescence of chaotic trajectories (2020-07-31)
Roth, Bruce N and Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 53, Article 345701(34)


Persistent features of intermittent transcription (2020)
Wilkinson, Michael; Darmanis, Spyros; Pisco, Angela Oliveira and Huber, Greg
Scientific Reports, 10, Article 3138(1)


Nests and chains of Hofstadter butterflies (2020)
Satija, Indubala I and Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 53, Article 85703(8)


Terasaki spiral ramps and intracellular diffusion (2019-10-10)
Huber, Greg and Wilkinson, Michael
Physical Biology, 16, Article 65002(6)


Lacunarity exponents (2019-03-15)
Wilkinson, Michael; Pradas, Marc; Huber, Greg and Pumir, Alain
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 52, Article 115101(11)


An exploration of ambigrammatic sequences in narnaviruses (2019)
DeRisi, Joseph L.; Huber, Greg; Kistler, Amy; Retallack, Hanna; Wilkinson, Michael and Yllanes, David
Scientific reports, 9, Article 17982


Uniformity transition for ray intensities in random media (2018-04-13)
Pradas, Marc; Pumir, Alain and Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 51, Article 155002(15)


Persistent stability of a chaotic system (2018-02-15)
Huber, Greg; Pradas, Marc; Pumir, Alain and Wilkinson, Michael
Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 492 (pp. 517-523)


Aggregation-fragmentation-diffusion model for trail dynamics (2017-07-21)
Kawagoe, Kyle; Huber, Greg; Pradas, Marc; Wilkinson, Michael; Pumir, Alain and Ben-Naim, Eli
Physical Review E, 96, Article 12142


Convergent Chaos (2017-07-07)
Pradas, Marc; Pumir, Alain; Huber, Greg and Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 50, Article 275101(27)


Large Deviation Analysis of Rapid Onset of Rain Showers (2016-01-08)
Wilkinson, Michael
Physical Review Letters, 116, Article 18501(1)


Power-law distributions in noisy dynamical systems (2015-09-17)
Wilkinson, Michael; Guicharaz, Robin; Pradas, Marc and Pumir, Alain
EPL, 111, Article 50005(5)


Advection-Diffusion Equation with Absorbing Boundary (2015-08)
Grant, John and Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Statistical Physics, 160(3) (pp. 622-635)


Analysis of the correlation dimension for inertial particles (2015-07-28)
Gustavsson, Kristian; Mehlig, Bernhard and Wilkinson, Michael
Physics of Fluids, 27, Article 73305


Reply to comment by M. Rohloff et al (2014-11)
Wilkinson, Michael
Europhysics Letters, 108, Article 30006


Triangular constellations in fractal measures (2014-09-30)
Wilkinson, Michael and Grant, John
EPL, 107, Article 50006(5)


Prevalence of the sling effect for enhancing collision rates in turbulent suspensions (2014-06-25)
Voßkuhle, Michel; Pumir, Alain; Lévêque, Emmanuel and Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 749 (pp. 841-852)


A test-tube model for rainfall (2014-05-19)
Wilkinson, Michael
EPL, 106, Article 40001(4)


Collision rate for suspensions at large Stokes numbers - comparing Navier-Stokes and synthetic turbulence (2014)
Voßkuhle, Michel; Pumir, Alain; Lévêque, Emmanuel and Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Turbulence, 16(1) (pp. 15-25)


A model for the shapes of advected triangles (2013-09)
Pumir, Alain and Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Statistical Physics, 152(5) (pp. 934-53)


Multiple collisions in turbulent flows (2013)
Voßkuhle, Michel; Lévêque, Emmanuel; Wilkinson, Michael and Pumir, Alain
Physical Review E, 88, Article 63008(6)


Super-diffusion in optical realizations of Anderson localization (2012-04)
Krivolapov, Yevgeny; Levi, Liad; Fishman, Shmuel; Segev, Mordechai and Wilkinson, Michael
New Journal of Physics, 14 (p 43047)


Clustering of exponentially separating trajectories (2012-01)
Wilkinson, M.; Mehlig, B.; Gustavsson, K. and Werner, E.
European Physical Journal B - Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, 85 (pp. 18-22)


Spectal dimension of fractal sets (2012)
Wilkinson, M.; Kennard, H. R. and Morgan, M. A.
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 45 (p 415102)


Universal anomalous diffusion of weakly damped particles (2012)
Bezuglyy, V.; Wilkinson, M. and Mehlig, B.
Physical Review E, 85 (p 61128)


A model for alignment between microscopic rods and vorticity (2012)
Wilkinson, M. and Kennard, H. R.
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 45 (p 455502)


Orientation statistics of small particles in turbulence (2011-09-20)
Pumir, Alain and Wilkinson, Michael
New J. Phys., 13 (p 93030)


Shock fragmentation model for gravitational collapse (2011-05)
Wilkinson, Michael; Mehlig, Bernhard and Morgan, Michael A.
Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 11(5) (pp. 545-562)


Emergent order in rheoscopic swirls (2011-01-25)
Wilkinson, Michael; Bezuglyy, Vlad and Mehlig, Bernhard
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 667 (pp. 158-187)


Lyapunov exponent for small particles in smooth one-dimensional flows (2011)
Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 44(4) (p 45502)


Universal anomalous exponent of photoconduction (2011)
Wilkinson, M.
Europhysics Letters, 96, Article 67007(6)


Spherical Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes (2011)
Wilkinson, Michael and Pumir, Alain
Journal of Statistical Physics, 145(1) (pp. 113-142)


Poincaré indices of rheoscopic visualisations (2010-02)
Bezuglyy, V.; Mehlig, B. and Wilkinson, M.
Europhysics Letters, 89(34003) (pp. 1-5)


Perturbation theory for a stochastic process with Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noise (2010)
Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Statistical Physics, 139(2) (pp. 345-353)


Correlation dimension of inertial particles in random flows (2010)
Wilkinson, M.; Mehlig, B. and Gustavsson, K.
Europhysics Letters, 89(5) (p 50002)


Fingerprints of random flows? (2009-04)
Wilkinson, Michael; Bezuglyy, Vlad and Mehlig, Bernard
Physics of Fluids, 21(4) (pp. 043304-043314)


Multiple regimes of diffusion (2009)
Mehlig, B.; Wilkinson, M.; Bezuglyy, V.; Gustavsson, K. and Nakamura, K.
Physical Review E, 80(11139) (pp. 1-10)


Collisions of particles advected in random flows (2008-07)
Gustavsson, K.; Mehlig, B. and Wilkinson, M.
New Journal of Physics, 10, (p 75014)


Stokes trapping and planet formation (2008-06)
Wilkinson, M.; Mehlig, B. and Uski, V.
Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 176(2) (pp. 484-496)


Stick-breaking model for variable-range hopping (2008-05)
Wilkinson, M.; Mehlig, B. and Bezuglyy, V.
Philosophical Magazine Letters, 88(5) (pp. 327-344)


Mutually unbiased bases for continuous variables (2008)
Weigert, Stefan and Wilkinson, Michael
Physical Review A, 78(2) (p 20303)


Variable-range projection model for turbulence-driven collisions (2008)
Gustavsson, K.; Mehlig, B.; Wilkinson, M. and Uski, V.
Physical Review Letters, 101(17) (p 174503)


Advective Collisions (2007-12)
Andersson, B.; Gustavsson, K.; Mehlig, B. and Wilkinson, M.
Europhysics Letters, 80(6)


Colliding particles in highly turbulent flows (2007-09)
Mehlig, Bernhard; Uski, Ville and Wilkinson, Michael
Physics of Fluids, 19(9)


Strength distribution of repeatedly broken chains (2007-06)
Wilkinson, Michael and Mehlig, Bernhard
Journal of Statistical Physics, 127(6) (pp. 1279-1286)


Precise asymptotics for a variable-range hopping model (2007)
Mehlig, B. and Wilkinson, M.
Progress of Theoretical Physics, 166 (pp. 136-142)


Unmixing in random flows (2007)
Wilkinson, M.; Mehlig, B.; Ostlund, S. and Duncan, K. P.
Physics of Fluids, 19 (p 113303)


Caustic activation of rain showers (2006-07-28)
Wilkinson, Michael; Mehlig, Bernhard and Bezuglyy, Vlad
Physical Review Letters, 97 (p 48501)


Staggered Ladder Spectra (2006-01-25)
Arvedson, E.; Wilkinson, M.; Mehlig, B. and Nakamura, K.
Physical Review Letters, 96(3) (p 30601)


Generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes (2006)
Bezuglyy, V.; Mehlig, B.; Wilkinson, Michael; Nakamura, K. and Arvedson, E.
Journal of Mathematical Physics, 47(7)


Semilinear response (2006)
Wilkinson, M.; Mehlig, B. and Cohen, D.
Europhysics Letters, 75(5) (pp. 709-715)


Clustering by mixing flows (2005-12-08)
Duncan, Kevin; Mehlig, Bernhard; Ostlund, Stellan and Wilkinson, Michael
Physical Review Letters, 95(24) (p 240602)


Aggregation of inertial particles in random flows (2005-11-08)
Mehlig, B.; Wilkinson, M.; Duncan, K.; Weber, T. and Ljunggren, M.
Physical Review E, 72 (p 51104)


Caustics in turbulent aerosols (2005)
Wilkinson, M. and Mehlig, B
Europhysics Letters, 71(2) (pp. 186-192)


Screening of charged singularities of random fields (2004-07-02)
Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, 37 (pp. 6763-6771)


Coagulation by random velocity fields as a Kramers Problem (2004-06-25)
Mehlig, Bernhard and Wilkinson, Michael
Physical Review Letters, 92(25) (p 250602)


Path coalescence transition and its applications (2003-10-23)
Wilkinson, M. and Mehlig, B.
Physical Review E, 68 (040101(R))


Energy-shell bases (2001-12-14)
Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, 34(49) (pp. 11149-11156)


A new quantum model for Ohmic dissipation (2001-09)
Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 13 (pp. 8087-8103)


Semiclassical trace formulae using coherent states (2001-06)
Mehlig, Bernhard and Wilkinson, Michael
Annalen der Physik, 10(6-7) (pp. 541-559)


Absorption of energy at a metallic surface due to a normal electric field (2001-04-02)
Wilkinson, Michael
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 13(13) (pp. 2901-2918)


Spectral correlations: understanding oscillatory contributions (2001-04)
Mehlig, B. and Wilkinson, M.
Physical Review E, 63(4) (p 45203)


Non-universality of chaotic classical dynamics: implications for quantum chaos (2001)
Wilkinson, M.
Physica Scripta, 2001(T90) (pp. 75-79)


Absorption of low-frequency radiation by small metallic particles: a semiclassical random phase approximation (2000-12-18)
Wikinson, M. and Mehlig, B.
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 12(50) (pp. 10481-10498)


Planet formation by concurrent collapse (2012)
Wilkinson, Michael and Mehlig, Bernhard
In : Let's Face Chaos Through Nonlinear Dynamics: 8th International Summer School/Conference (26 Jun - 10 Jul 2011, Maribor, Slovenia) (pp. 375-388)