Department of Chemistry
Professor of Chemistry
Adjunct Professor of Physics
Ph.D. Harvard University, 1968
(Theoretical Chemical Physics)
(206) 543-0578
Email: rein@chem.washington.edu
Research group website
The research of the Reinhardt group is in two main areas: 1) development of novel techniques for determination of the entropies and free energies of complex molecular systems, including clusters, polymers and solutions; and 2) modeling the structure and dynamics of the newest state of matter, the gaseous Bose Einstein Condensate (BEC).
In the area of computational thermodynamics, we are developing new variational principles allowing us to obtain both upper and lower bounds to free energies and entropies, and also “optimization” methods based on these finite time bounds. We are currently determining free energy differences between different foldings of model “proteins.”
Work on the BEC involves studying the formation and dynamics of solitons and vortices and the investigation of “chaotic” wave structures that arise if a condensate is “shocked.” Recently we have been developing the theory of production of Schrödinger Cat states (aka entangled number states),of interest in their own right, but also as a possible basis for quantum information processing. Our work on the BEC takes place in close collaboration with theoretical and experimental scientists in the UW Department of Physics and at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).
David J. Masiello and William P. Reinhardt, Time-dependent quantum many-body theory of identical bosons in a double well: Early-time ballistic interferences of fragmented and number entangled states, Phys. Rev. A 76, 043612-1-15, (2007).
Leung, M.A., Reinhardt, W.P., “Efficient parallel implementation of the Bose- Hubbard model: Exact numerical groundstates and dynamics of gaseous Bose Einstein Condensates”, Comp. Phys. Comm., 177 (4), 348-356 (2007).
William P. Reinhardt, Complex Scaling in Atomic and Molecular Physics, In and Out of External Fields, AMS Proceedings Series: Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics, 76, 357(2007).
Sarah B. McKagan, D. Feder and W. P. Reinhardt, Mean-field effects may mimic number squeezing in Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices, Phys Rev. A 74, 013612 (2006).
Maurice de Koning and William P. Reinhardt Free Energy Calculation using Nonequilibrium Simulations, in Handbook of Materials Modeling, edited by S. Yip, Springer, Dordrecht, 2005, Vol. 2, pp 707-728.
J. Denschlag, J. E. Simsarian, D. L. Feder, C. W. Clark, L. A. Collins,J. Cubizolles, L. Deng, E. W. Hagley, K. Helmerson, W. P. Reinhardt, S. L. Rolston, B. I. Schneider, and W. D. Phillips, “Generating solitons by phase engineering of a Bose-Einstein condensate,” Science, 287,97-101 (2000).
Fulbright Senior Scholar, Australia, 1997;
Fellow, American Physical Society;
Fellow, AAAS,
Fellow, Institute of Physics (UK);
Fellow, Phi Beta Kappa 1998-;
Phi Beta Kappa National Visiting Scholar, AY 2002-2003.
R. S. Berry Public Lecturer, Telluride Summer Research Center 2004;
Bertman Lecturer, Wesleyan University (CT), 2005;
Phi Beta Kappa, Couper Scholar, AY 2006-2008.