PICS Colloquium (Virtual): “Modelling active matter on large length and time scales” with Robert Jack
February 20 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Abstract: Active matter consists of particles that do work on their environment, for example by propelling themselves through a solvent. Fluids made from many interacting self-propelled particles have become popular as models of non-equilibrium matter: they are challenging for theory and computation because their steady states cannot be derived by minimizing a free energy, nor any other thermodynamic potential. I will discuss their behaviour on large length and time scales, including possibilities for dynamical pattern formation, glassy behavior, and surface phase transitions (wetting).
Robert Jack
Professor of Statistical Mechanics at the University of Cambridge
Robert Jack is Professor of Statistical Mechanics at the University of Cambridge, with a joint appointment between the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, and the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. His research aims to understand large-scale collective dynamics of complex systems from physics and chemistry, including fluctuations and rare events as well as their typical behavior. This is based on a combination of theoretical and computational methods.