Ning Xu
ningxu@ustc.edu.cn
Education
2000-2005 Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Yale University
1995-2000 Ph.D. in Plasma Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
1991-1995 Bachelor's Degree in Plasma Physics, University of Science and Technology of China
Experience
2023-Present Senior Researcher, Hefei National Laboratory
2010-Present Professor, University of Science and Technology of China
2009-2010 Research Assistant Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong
2006-2009 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania and University of Chicago
Overview of Academic Research
Prof. Xu’s research interest is the systematic research in the fields of amorphous systems, phase transitions, and nonequilibrium statistical physics, elucidating the formation mechanisms of amorphous solid properties and developing dynamic and statistical methods to describe nonequilibrium systems.
His/her major achievements include:
*Defining microscopic structural order parameters to extract critical structural information from amorphous solids, establishing relationships between structure and properties such as elastic modulus, stability, normal modes of vibrations, and energy transport.
*Uncovering intrinsic connections in typical nonequilibrium systems (e.g., shear and self-driven systems) and developing a unified description from multiple perspectives, including effective temperature, elastoplastic deformation, and rheology.
*Discovering new conditions for quasicrystal formation, challenging existing quasicrystal theories.
Research Directions/Fields:
Glass transition and the nature of amorphous solids
Topological phase transition mechanisms in 2D crystallization/melting and quasicrystal formation
Nonequilibrium rheology and crystallization dynamics
Mechanical metamaterials based on complex networks
Major Honors and Awards
2015 Young Faculty Achievement Award, University of Science and Technology of China Alumni Foundation
2024 Baogang Excellent Teaching Award
Representative Publications
1. Zhang, Z., Xu, N., Chen, D. T. N., Yunker, P., Alsayed, A. M., Aptowicz K. B., Habdas, P., Liu, A. J., Nagel, S. R., Yodh, A. G. Thermal vestige of the zero-temperature jamming transition”, Nature 459, 230 (2009).
2. Xu, N., Vitelli, V., Wyart, M., Liu, A. J., Nagel, S. R. Energy transport in jammed sphere packings, Physical Review Letters 102, 038001 (2009).
3. Zhao, C., Tian, K., Xu, N. New jamming scenario: From marginal jamming to deep jamming, Physical Review Letters 106, 125503 (2011).
4. Wang, L., Xu, N. Probing the glass transition from structural and vibrational properties of zero-temperature glasses, Physical Review Letters 112, 055701 (2014).
5. Wang, X., Zheng, W., Wang, L., Xu, N. Disordered solids without well-defined transverse phonons: The nature of hard sphere glasses, Physical Review Letters 114, 035502 (2015).
6. Zu, M., Liu, J., Tong, H., Xu, N. Density affects the nature of the hexatic-liquid transition of two-dimensional melting of soft-core systems, Physical Review Letters 117, 085702 (2016).
7. Xu, N., Liu, A. J., Nagel, S. R. Instabilities of jammed packings of frictionless spheres under load, Physical Review Letters 119, 215502 (2017).
8. Zu, M., Tan, P., Xu, N. Forming quasicrystals by monodisperse soft-core particles, Nature Communications 8, 2089 (2017).
9. Nie, Y., Liu, J., Guo, J., Xu, N. Connecting glass-forming ability of binary mixtures of soft particles to equilibrium melting temperatures, Nature Communications 11, 3198 (2020).
10. Wang, Y., Fang, S., Xu, N., Deng, Y., Two-scale scenario of rigidity percolation of sticky particles, Physical Review Letters 124, 255501 (2020).
11. Zhang, J., Zheng, W., Zhang, S., Xu, D., Nie, Y., Jiang, Z., Xu, N. Unifying fluctuation-dissipation temperatures of slow-evolving nonequilibrium systems from the perspective of inherent structures, Science Advances 7, eabg6766 (2021).
12. Zhan, M., Chen, Y., Jiang, Z., Xu, N., Tan, P. Multiple scenarios of low-temperature nucleation in simple liquids, Physical Review Letters 130, 178201 (2023).
13. Xu, D., Zhang, S., Liu, A. J., Nagel, S. R., Xu, N. Discontinuous instability of disordered solids under load, PNAS 120, e2304974120 (2023).
14. Xu, D., Zhang, S., Tong, H., Wang, L., Xu, N. Low-frequency vibrational density of states of ordinary and ultra-stable glasses, Nature Communications 15, 1424 (2024).
15. Mo, R., Xu, D., Xu, N. Thinning by cluster breaking: Active matter and shear flows share thinning mechanisms, PNAS 121, e2318917121 (2024).