by Benjamin White

Karina Avila-Coronado, an Ohio University graduate student studying physics under Professor Horacio Castillo, recently garnered the cover of Physical Review Letters – on her first published paper.

Karina's cover story, “Mapping Dynamical Heterogeneity in Structural Glasses to Correlated Fluctuations of the Time Variables” [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 265702 (2011)], showcases her research on strong fluctuations near the glass transition which are believed to be crucial in explaining much of the glassy phenomena. Much about the dynamics of the atomic configuration of glasses remains unknown, a mystery that Karina admits is one of "the deepest and most interesting unsolved problem in solid state theory."

Karina and Dr. Castillo concentrated their research on dynamical heterogeneities, the regions of the system that present different mobility with respect to each other and the whole bulk. Such research is highly theoretical but could be used in the future to create better magnetic or elastic glass materials for use in future industry.

“My research in this area, aiming to obtain further insights in their relaxation mechanisms, is very fundamental,” she said. “I hope I could contribute with my work to improve that picture.”

Though she is expecting a baby, Karina has kept herself busy by working on another paper while spending much of her time in Germany as part of a collaboration with Professor Annette Zippelius and other theorists from the University of Goettingen in Germany. After her full plate is clean and her doctorate degree is earned, she plans to continue into post-doctorate studies in a related area.

“It was important for me to see that my results had a good impact, especially because this is my first paper,” she said. “I already like my research very much and this motivates me more for working in my upcoming projects.”

Karina's cover paper can be read at http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v107/i26/e265702.