Farid F Abraham

Dear Wikipedia, I have composed the following description of my professional life since the existing description was very incomplete. I hope that this can resolve the existing issues. Thank you, Farid Abraham

Farid F. Abraham (born May 5, 1937) is an American scientist. He has pioneered new methods of using computer modeling in the fields of fracture mechanics, membrane dynamics and phase transformation behavior of matter. He has written two textbooks and over 200 papers published in international journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Nature. He won the Aneesur Rahman Prize in Computational Physics, which is the highest prize given by the American Physical Society.

Abraham is a native of Phoenix Arizona and received both his B.S. (1959) and Ph.D. (1962) degrees in physics from the University of Arizona. He spent two postdoctoral years (1962-63) at the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago and two years as a research scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California.  He joined IBM in 1966 as a staff member at its Palo Alto Scientific Center. In 1971, Abraham was named the first Consulting Professor at Stanford University and developed a graduate course in computational applied science in the Materials Science Department. In 1972, he moved to the IBM Research Division's San Jose Research Laboratory, known since 1985 as the Almaden Research Center. During 1994, Abraham held the Sandoval Vallarta Chair at the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City. For the period of 1995 to 2003, he was awarded several computer grants at the National Science Foundation Computational Centers and Department of Defence Grand Challenge Grants at the Maui High Performance Computing Center (MHPCC). He has been awarded several IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards. Abraham is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and, in 1998/99, was an American Physical Society Centennial Speaker. Abraham was the Chair of the American Physical Society’s Division of Computational Physics in 2000-2001. He was elected the recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for Senior Scientists. In March of 2004, he received the Aneesur Rahman Prize for Computational Physics from the American Physical Society. Retiring from IBM in 2004, he joined Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a Senior Scientist and was named the Graham-Perdue Visiting Professor at The University of Georgia. In 2010, he retired from LLNL. For over four decades Abraham has pursued a wide range of computational physics applications, mainly in condensed matter physics and chemical physics.

Abraham's early interests in nucleation phenomena led him to pioneer the use of Monte Carlo computational methods in the study of microscopic liquid droplets and the liquid-vapor interface. Prior to his work, a molecular understanding of these inhomogeneous fluid states did not exist. His computer simulation studies in the early 1970s resolved an outstanding controversy concerning the pretransition state at the onset of vapor condensation which is presented in his advanced text on nucleation entitled Homogeneous Nucleation Theory [1].

He then turned his attention to extending the use of Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics computational methods to the simulation of the liquid-solid interface. In 1974, he discovered liquid layering at the boundary of the solid surface neighboring the liquid. This discovery led Abraham and his colleagues to give a conceptually simple but accurate understanding of this behavior using a theory of distribution functions for the liquid state [2]. Computer simulation of clusters, surfaces and interfaces remains a major research activity in the scientific community. 

While the nucleation process takes place by a local density fluctuation, it was suggested that under certain conditions sufficiently long wavelength fluctuations might be unstable and initiate the phase transition. This mechanism is called spinodal decomposition and, unlike nucleation, was questioned as a true physical mechanism for phase separation since its introduction in 1961. By extending the state-of-the-art of atomic simulations to thousands of atoms and making extensive use of visualization, Abraham in the late 1970s and early 80s used molecular dynamics computations to demonstrate the validity of the spinodal decomposition process in phase-separating fluids in both two and three dimensions [3]. During the same period, he continued to extend computational physics to many other areas of research, such as solid-surface segregation, the glass transition, hydration in polar liquids, and electron-hole plasmas in semiconductors. 

During the early ‘80s, a startling theoretical prediction suggested that melting in two dimensions could be a continuous transition and therefore different from the well-known first-order melting transition in three dimensions. Many early experiments appeared to confirm this prediction. Through novel applications of many different types of simulations, Abraham showed that melting in two and three dimensions are indeed the same and are first-order. He was able to reproduce by computer simulation the experimental results suggesting a continuous transition and explain them to be a consequence of the graphite surface structure and second-layer promotion that made the melting features to appear continuous. This work led to the study of many phases of monolayer films on solid surfaces and to the 1984 simulation of about 200,000 atoms, an impressive `world record since contemporary simulations at that time used only hundreds to a few thousand atoms [4].

Despite these successes, Abraham realized that the conventional computer architecture represented serious bottlenecks to simulating even larger atomic systems. In the early 1980s, he initiated an IBM project to build a special-purpose parallel supercomputer.  At the same time, he asked the computational physics community what they would consider a `super problem' for that supercomputer [5]. Although this approach has now become a popular exercise, termed `grand-challenge' problems, at the time many did not recognize this vision. During this same period, Abraham contributed to resolving certain outstanding issues in the helium-film phase diagram, biexiton formation in quantum dots and atomic force microscope images using quantum and classical simulations. 

By 1990, the behavior of solid, flexible membranes spurred the interests of the theoretical physics community with the suggestion that their natural form would be crumpled up into a ball rather than extended like a sheet. Abraham's molecular dynamics simulations showed that the solid membrane is flat when there are only entropic interactions between atoms, contrary to the theoretical prediction which was based on the successful Flory theory in polymer physics. This was quite unexpected and initially difficult for many to accept. However, high-resolution x-ray scattering measurements on the solid membrane Spectrin found in red blood cells have verified the simulation result that the natural form is flat [6,7]. However, it was proposed that with sufficient attraction between the atoms the flat state would be destroyed and the crumpled state would be achieved. Abraham showed with additional simulations that the solid membrane would fold, but not crumple as anticipated. It has since been suggested that this folding process may provide a method for drug transport.

In 1991, Abraham began an 18-month sabbatical at the University of California at Santa Barbara to create and teach an upper-division undergraduate course in computational physics. This course was also taught at UC Davis in the summer of 1993.  During that same period, Abraham conducted research in charged-density waves and the nonlinear dynamics of chaotic oscillators on a lattice.  He showed that the dynamics of this intrinsically chaotic system is very rich and interesting. The intricate interplay of coherent and random dynamics in this system suggests a possible analogy with high-Reynolds-number turbulent flow, and that the self-similarity proposed for turbulent flows applies also to this problem.  This suggests universality in the dynamics. The significance of this work is that this very simple model may provide a fruitful paradigm for studying dynamical pattern formation in the real world [8]

After returning to IBM in 1993, Abraham initiated an aggressive program in the computational science of materials. He focused on studies in friction, wear and materials failure. Abraham's goal was to develop tools based on computational simulation of microscopic processes important to the materials scientist and technologist. He found that the fracture tip dynamics of a brittle solid under tension undergoes instability at about one third the speed of sound. At the atomic level of the simulation, Abraham could identify the mechanisms associated with the crack instability. This work was extended to the plastic failure of ductile solids. He and his LLNL colleagues have simulated work hardening in ductile solids using one billion atoms on the IBM/LLNL ASCI White computer [9].

For the practical needs of the engineer trying to prevent materials failure, the simulation of "real" structures on much larger space scales must be realized. One way of achieving this is by bringing together continuum, atomistic and electronic structure descriptions of matter into a seamless union. A project called MAAD (Macro, Atomistic, Abinitio, Dynamics) was created by Abraham to accomplish a union of the macroscopic, mesoscopic and microscopic descriptions of matter. The first MAAD application was the rapid brittle fracture of a silicon slab flawed by a crack that was under uniaxial tension. In the "far-field" regions (MACRO region), the continuum was described by the finite-element (FE) method. Around the crack (MESO region) with large strain gradients but with no bond rupture, the molecular dynamics (MD) description for the atomic motion was used. In the region of bond failure (MICRO region), a quantum mechanical description, called tight-binding (TB) was used. MAAD was composed of researchers at IBM, NRL, Harvard and Stanford [10]. A review of his simulation studies in materials failure has appeared [11].

In a LLNL study [12], Abraham investigated, by molecular dynamics simulation, the generic features associated with the dynamic compaction of metallic nano-foams at very high strain rates. A universal feature of the dynamic compaction process was revealed as composed of two distinct regions: a growing crushed region and a leading fluid precursor. The crushed region has a density lower than the solid material and gradually grows thicker in time by “snowplowing.” The trapped fluid precursor is created by ablation and/or melting of the foam filaments and the subsequent confinement of the hot atoms in a region comparable to the filament length of the foam. Abraham argued that high-energy foam crushing is not a shock phenomenon even though both share the snowplow feature. This finding has had significance to the LLNL National Ignition Facility’s capsule design.

References

[1] Homogeneous Nucleation Theory: The Pretransition Theory of Vapor Condensation, Farid Fadlow Abraham, Academic Press, New York and London, 1974[2] The structure of a hard-sphere fluid in contact with a soft repulsive wall, 1977, Journal of Chemical Physics, volume 67, issue 5, pp 2384-2385 (1977), F. F. Abraham, Y. Singh

[2] The structure of a hard-sphere fluid in contact with a soft repylsive wall, Journal of Chemical Physics, volume 67, pp 2384-2385 (1977), F. F. Abraham, Y. Singh

[3] On the Structure, Thermodynamics and Phase Stability of the Non-uniform Fluid State,” Physics Reports 53, 93 (1979), F. F. Abraham

[4] The Phases of Two-Dimensional Matter, Their Transitions & Solid-State Stability, Physics Reports 80, 339 (1981), F. F. Abraham.

[5] Computational Statistical Mechanics: Methodology, Applications and Supercomputing,” Advances In Physics, 35, 1 (1986), F. F. Abraham

[6] Diffraction From Polymerized Membranes,” Science 249, 393 (1990), F. F. Abraham, D. R. Nelson

[7] Folding and Unbinding Transitions in Tethered Membranes,” Science 252, 419 (1991), F. F. Abraham, M. Kardar

[8] Turbulent Dynamics of an Intrinsically Chaotic Field, Physical Review 49, 3703 (1994), F. F. Abraham

[9] Simulating Materials Failure by Using up to One Billion Atoms and the World’s Fastest Computer, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99, 5777 & 5783 (2002), F. F. Abraham,  R. Walkup, H. Gao,  M. Duchaineau,, M. Seager

[10] Spanning the continuum to quantum length scales in a dynamic simulation of brittle fracture , EPL, volume 44, issue 6, pp 783-787 (1998), F. F. Abraham, J. Q. Broughton, N. Bernstein, E. Kaxiras

[11] How Fast Can Cracks Move? A research adventure in materials failure using millions of atoms and big computers, Advances In Physics. 52, 727 (2003), F. F. Abraham

[12] Compaction dynamics of metallic nano-forms: A molecular dynamics simulation study, arXiv:Material Science (2011), F. F. Abraham, M. A. Duchaineau, J. B. Elliott, A. V. Hamza, T. Dittrich, T. Diaz de la Rubia

Highly Cited Papers

Concurrent coupling of length scales: Methodology and application, 1999, Physical Review B, volume 60, issue 4, pp 2391-2403, J.Q. Broughton, F. F. Abraham, N. Bernstein, E. Kaxiras

Theory and Monte Carlo simulation of physical clusters in the imperfect vapor, 1973, Journal of Chemical Physics, volume 58, issue 8, pp 3166-3180, J. K. Lee,  J. A. Barker, F. F. Abraham (IBM

The Ornstein-Zernike equation for a fluid in contact with a surface, 2002, Molecular Physics, volume 100, issue 1, pp 1291-1295, D. Henderson, F. F. Abraham (IBM), J. A. Barker

Spanning the continuum to quantum length scales in a dynamic simulation of brittle fracture, 1998, EPL, volume 44, issue 6, pp 783-787, F. F. Abraham, J. Q. Broughton, N. Bernstein

Instability dynamics of fracture: A computer simulation investigation. 1994, Physical Review Letters, volume 73, issue 2, pp 272-275, F.F. Abraham, D. Brodbeck, R. A. Rafey, W. E. Rudge

Computational statistical mechanics methodology, applications and supercomputing , 1986, Advances in Physics, volume 35, issue 1, pp 1-111, F. F. Abraham

Empirical Criterion for the Glass Transition Region Based on Monte Carlo Simulations , 1978, Physical Review Letters, volume 41, issue 18, pp 1244-1246, H. R. Wendt, F. F. Abraham

Phase diagram of the two-dimensional Lennard-Jones system; Evidence for first-order transitions, 1981, Physica A-statistical Mechanics and Its Applications, volume 106, issue 1, pp 226-238, J. .A. Barker, D. Henderson, F. F.  Abraham

How fast can cracks propagate, 2000, Physical Review Letters, volume 84, issue 14, pp 3113-3116, F. F. Abraham, H. Gao

Functional Dependence of Drag Coefficient of a Sphere on Reynolds Number , 1970, Physics of Fluids, volume 13, issue 8, 2194-2195, F. F. Abraham

Computer-Simulation Dynamics of an Unstable Two-Dimensional Fluid: Time-Dependent Morphology and Scaling, 1982, Physical Review Letters, volume 49, issue 13, pp 923-926, F. F. Abraham, S. W. Koch,  R. C. Desai

Surface Segregation in Binary Solid Solutions: The γ*−σ*Representation, 1981, Physical Review Letters, volume 46, issue 8, pp 546-549, F. F. Abraham

Fluctuations in the flat and collapsed phases of polymerized membranes, 1990, Journal De Physique, volume 51, issue 23, pp 2653-2672, F. F. Abraham, D. R. Nelson

Folding and Unbinding Transitions in Tethered Membranes, 1991, Science, volume 252, issue 5004, pp 419-422, F. F. Abraham, M. K.

Farid F. Abraham (born May 5, 1937) is an American scientist.

He has pioneered new methods of using computer modeling in the fields of fracture mechanics, membrane dynamics and phase transformation behavior of matter. He has written two textbooks and over 200 papers published in international journals. He won the Aneesur Rahman Prize in Computational Physics, which is the highest prize given by the American Physical Society.