Glen Baxter (mathematician)
Encyclopedia
Glen Earl Baxter was an American mathematician.
Baxter's fields of research include probability theory
, combinatorial analysis, statistical mechanics
and functional analysis
. Lately, his 1960 work on the derivation of a specific operator identity that later bore his name, the Rota–Baxter identity, and emanated from
some of the fundamental results of the famous probabilist Frank Spitzer
in random walk theory has received attention in fields as remote as renormalization
theory in perturbative quantum field theory
.
In 1983 the Glen E. Baxter Memorial Fund was established by family and friends at Purdue University
.
Baxter's fields of research include probability theory
Probability theory
Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with analysis of random phenomena. The central objects of probability theory are random variables, stochastic processes, and events: mathematical abstractions of non-deterministic events or measured quantities that may either be single...
, combinatorial analysis, statistical mechanics
Statistical mechanics
Statistical mechanics or statistical thermodynamicsThe terms statistical mechanics and statistical thermodynamics are used interchangeably...
and functional analysis
Functional analysis
Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure and the linear operators acting upon these spaces and respecting these structures in a suitable sense...
. Lately, his 1960 work on the derivation of a specific operator identity that later bore his name, the Rota–Baxter identity, and emanated from
some of the fundamental results of the famous probabilist Frank Spitzer
Frank Spitzer
Frank Ludvig Spitzer was an Austrian-born American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to probability theory, including the theory of random walks, fluctuation theory, percolation theory, the Wiener sausage, and especially the theory of interacting particle systems...
in random walk theory has received attention in fields as remote as renormalization
Renormalization
In quantum field theory, the statistical mechanics of fields, and the theory of self-similar geometric structures, renormalization is any of a collection of techniques used to treat infinities arising in calculated quantities....
theory in perturbative quantum field theory
Quantum field theory
Quantum field theory provides a theoretical framework for constructing quantum mechanical models of systems classically parametrized by an infinite number of dynamical degrees of freedom, that is, fields and many-body systems. It is the natural and quantitative language of particle physics and...
.
In 1983 the Glen E. Baxter Memorial Fund was established by family and friends at Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
.