Leonid Andreevich Pastur ( uk, Леонід Андрійович Пастур, russian: Леонид Андреевич Пастур) (born 21 August 1937) is a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

mathematical physicist Mathematical physics refers to the development of mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the developmen ...

and

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimen ...

, known in particular for contributions to

random matrix theory In probability theory and mathematical physics, a random matrix is a matrix-valued random variable—that is, a matrix in which some or all elements are random variables. Many important properties of physical systems can be represented mathemat ...

, the

spectral theory In mathematics, spectral theory is an inclusive term for theories extending the eigenvector and eigenvalue theory of a single square matrix to a much broader theory of the structure of operators in a variety of mathematical spaces. It is a result ...

of random Schrödinger operators,

statistical mechanics In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. It does not assume or postulate any natural laws, but explains the macroscopic be ...

, and

solid state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how the l ...

(especially, the theory of disordered systems). Currently, he heads the Department of Theoretical Physics at the

B Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering The B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering ( uk, Фізико-технічний інститут низьких температур імені Б. І. Вєркіна) is a research institute that conducts basic research ...

Work

* In

: together with

Vladimir Marchenko Vladimir Alexandrovich Marchenko (russian: Влади́мир Алекса́ндрович Ма́рченко, uk, Володи́мир Олекса́ндрович Ма́рченко; born 7 July 1922) is a Soviet and Ukrainian mathematician who ...

, he discovered the Marchenko–Pastur law. Later, he devised a more general approach to study random matrices with independent entries in the global regime. Together with

Mariya Shcherbina Mariya Vladimirovna Shcherbina ( uk, Марія Володимирівна Щербина, born December 11, 1958) is a Ukrainian mathematician and mathematical physicist who studies the theory of random matrices. She is a corresponding member of ...

, he found the first rigorous proof of universality for invariant matrix ensembles. * In the

of random Schrödinger operators, he introduced the class of metrically transitive operators, and discovered several fundamental properties of this class. Together with Ilya Goldsheid and Stanislav Molchanov, he established

Anderson localization In condensed matter physics, Anderson localization (also known as strong localization) is the absence of diffusion of waves in a ''disordered'' medium. This phenomenon is named after the American physicist P. W. Anderson, who was the first to sug ...

for a class of one-dimensional self-adjoint operators with random potentials; this was the first mathematically rigorous proof of Anderson localization.

Awards and honors

He is a member of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; uk, Національна академія наук України, ''Natsional’na akademiya nauk Ukrayiny'', abbr: NAN Ukraine) is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine th ...

. In 2012 he became a fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

.List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
retrieved 2013-05-05.

References

Mathematical physicists Theoretical physicists Members of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Fellows of the American Mathematical Society 20th-century Ukrainian mathematicians 20th-century Ukrainian physicists 1937 births Living people 21st-century Ukrainian physicists {{Europe-mathematician-stub