Understanding non equilibrium: some recent advances and a challenge for the future

by Gianni Jona-Lasinio

at Physics Colloquium

Tue, 08 Nov 2016, 15:00
Nanotechnology institute building (#51) room 15

Abstract

Far from equilibrium behavior is ubiquitous Indeed most of the processes that characterize energy flow occur far from equilibrium These range from very large systems such as weather patterns or ocean currents that remain far from equilibrium owing to an influx of energy to biological structures Away from equilibrium processes occur on time scales ranging from nanoseconds to millennia A difficulty of non equilibrium physics is that usual thermodynamic functions of state like entropy or free energy do not generalize easily The study of rare fluctuations of thermodynamic variables like densities or currents in stationary states has led to the identification of thermodynamic functions relevant in far from equilibrium situations For a wide class of systems called diffusive systems it has been possible to develop a comprehensive unified theory known as sl Macroscopic Fluctuation Theory with considerable predictive power Among the predictions long range correlations generically appearing in non equilibrium stationary states phase transitions possible in non equilibrium but impossible in equilibrium or phase transitions in current fluctuations spontaneously breaking translational invariance in time Much remains to be done Besides the purely scientific motivation the challenge is to deal effectively with basic issues facing humanity like energy problems climate control understanding living matter Refreshments are served at 14:45

Created on 01-10-2016 by Bar Lev, Yevgeny (ybarlev)
Updaded on 01-10-2016 by Bar Lev, Yevgeny (ybarlev)