Associate Professor of Physics Viva Horowitz recently presented “Good Vibes: How to Take Apart a Resonator System Without Dismantling It” for the physics colloquium at Smith College. The talk was based on work she did with Benjamín J. Alemán at the University of Oregon and focused on ways to study mechanical parameters in resonator networks.
The research was inspired by scientists building resonator networks – systems with components that interact in complex ways. Horowitz said that an “unexpected discovery” during their work “led to the realization that the traditional spectrum of resonators provided misleading information about the true size of a network and raised questions about how to determine all the mechanical parameters of a resonator network.”
In “Good Vibrations,” Horowitz discussed dismantling the network, using curve-fitting techniques, and applying NetMAP – three methods to determine all the mechanical parameters of a resonator network. She noted that NetMAP, a new algebraic formalism, offers new possibilities for analyzing complex resonator networks without having to disassemble them, which provides a clearer understanding of their mechanical properties.
She said this new formalism may be valuable for future studies in diverse fields such as quantum computing, nanotechnology, engineering, neuroscience, and astrophysics.
Posted October 10, 2025
