XIX Chilean Physics Symposium 2014

Abstract

The Chilean Physics Symposium is the most important meeting of Chilean physicists. It has been held every two years since 1978, in different cities of the country, gathering professional physicists, young PhDs, and postgraduate and undergraduate students. This is a meeting where it is possible to review the status of physics in Chile, to discuss the progress of the various groups and researchers, as well as discuss the educational aspects and the relationship of the discipline with the country's development.The XIX Symposium was held in the city of Concepción, on days 25, 26 and 27 November 2014 and was attended by 374 participants, most Chileans, but also others from other Latin American countries, North America, and Europe. There were 4 invited plenary lectures, 127 oral contributions and 186 posters. The scientific works presented covered virtually all areas of physics, both experimental and theoretical, and its relations with neighboring disciplines: condensed and material physics, particles and fields, gravitation and cosmology, optical and quantum physics, non-linear and mathematical physics, statistical mechanics and fluids, atomic, molecular and nuclear physics, electrodynamics and plasma, and education, society and history.There was also a session where three members of the physics community were rewarded for their outstanding work as researchers and educators of new generations: Professor Jaime Roessler, of the University of Chile in Santiago, Professor Iván Schmidt of the University Santa María in Valparaíso, and Dr. Jorge Zanelli, CECs in Valdivia. It also paid tribute to Professor Sergio del Campo, who died in June 2014, and served as professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.In these Proceedings there is a sample of the works that were presented at the Symposium. All authors were invited to submit articles for publication in the Symposium Proceedings. The articles received were reviewed by members of the Scientific Committee and by invited peers. The criteria for review, as usual in our meetings, focused on the demand for a consistent piece of research, and a clear statement of results. We thank the authors who sent their works, which comprise the 58 papers in this issue.We wish to acknowledge the commendable support received for the edition of the Proceedings from Ariana Espinoza Muñoz, University of Concepcion. We also thank Felipe González-Cataldo and Leopoldo Soto. Finally, we list below the Scientific Committee of the Symposium, the Organizing Committee and the board of the Chilean Society of Physics 2013-2015, who with the Department of Physics at the University of Concepción- that took the organization of this event in their hands - they made possible this Symposium and the editing of these Proceedings. Last, but not least, we would like to thank Journal of Physics: Conference Series, and in particular to Sarah Toms, for her enthusiasm and patience.