https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7174-0821
Overview
Patrick Charbonneau is Professor of Physics at Duke University. His research in soft matter and statistical physics uses theory and computer simulations to study glassy materials and frustrated systems. He also contributes to the history of science, curating projects on quantum and statistical physics as well as food history.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Professor of Physics
·
2025 - Present
Physics,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Director of Graduate Studies of the University Program in Materials Science and Engineering
·
2024 - Present
Pratt School of Engineering
Professor of Chemistry
·
2026 - Present
Chemistry,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Recent Publications
The critical slowing down in diffusion models
Preprint · May 12, 2026 Link to item CiteRare trajectories in a prototypical mean-field disordered model: Insights into landscape and instantons.
Journal Article Physical review. E · March 2026 For disordered systems within the random first-order transition (RFOT) universality class, such as structural glasses and certain spin glasses, the role played by activated relaxation processes is rich to the point of perplexity. Over the last decades, var ... Full text Open Access CiteThe geometry of jamming algorithms in the random Lorentz gas.
Journal Article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · November 2025 Deterministic optimization algorithms unequivocally partition a complex energy landscape into inherent structures (ISs) and their respective basins of attraction. Can these basins be defined solely through geometric principles? This question is paramount t ... Full text Open Access CiteRecent Grants
Cracking the Glass Problem
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of Chicago · 2016 - 2023Soft Matter Simulation and Theory of the Crystal Assembly of Globular and Membrane Proteins
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2018 - 2022Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Training Program
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2005 - 2021View All Grants
Education
Harvard University ·
2006
Ph.D.
McGill University (Canada) ·
2001
B.S.