Statistical Physics of Soft and Living Matter

6 EC

Semester 2, period 4

5354SPSL6Y

Owner Master Physics and Astronomy (joint degree)
Coordinator Edan Lerner
Part of Master Physics and Astronomy, track Advanced Matter and Energy Physics, year 1Master Physics and Astronomy, track Physics of Life and Health, year 1Master Physics and Astronomy, track Theoretical Physics, year 1Master Physics and Astronomy (joint degree), track Biophysics and Biophotonics, year 1

Course manual 2018/2019

Course content

We will review (and, where necessary, introduce) the following topics:

  1.  random walks, first passage processes, Levy flights 
  2.  Brownian motion and Langevin dynamics
  3.  Fokker-Planck equation: derivation and application
  4.  linear response near equilibrium, fluctuation-dissipation relations
  5.  continuum-, atomistic-, and visco-elasticity
  6.  mechanical instabilities in disordered solids: plasticity and unjamming 
  7.  probabilities at 2nd-order: singular value decomposition and principal component analysis 
  8.  attractors & bifurcations: fixed points, limit cycles and chaos
  9.  linear stability analysis
  10. probabilities at higher order: entropy and information theory

Contemporary research directions will be explored through group projects and motivated with particular analysis techniques. Group projects will culminate in short presentations towards the end of the course. While our focus is theoretical we will also emphasize important connections to modern experimental research. Students should expect exercises that involve numerical simulations and analysis.

 

 

 

Study materials

Literature

  • Pavel L. Krapivsky, Sidney Redner, and Eli Ben–Naim, 'A Kinetic View of Statistical Physics'.

  • Chaikin and Lubensky, 'Principles of condensed matter physics'.

  • Landau and Lifshitz, 'Theory of Elasticity'.

  • M. E. Tuckerman, 'Statistical Mechanics - Theory and Molecular Simulation'.

  • Steven H. Strogatz, 'Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos'.

  • James Sethna, 'Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters and Complexity'.

Syllabus

Objectives

At the end of the course, the student is able to:

  • Understand and apply a wide variety of statistical analysis tools to soft matter and biophysics problems.
  • Describe the interplay between theoretical and experimental soft matter and biophysics. 
  • Understand the relation between the intricacy and complexity of biophysical and soft matter systems and the scientific methodology employed in their investigation.

Teaching methods

  • Lecture
  • Presentation/symposium
  • Self-study

Learning activities

Activity

Number of hours

Hoorcollege

28

Tentamen

3

Werkcollege

28

Zelfstudie

109

Attendance

Requirements concerning attendance (OER-B).

  • In addition to, or instead of, classes in the form of lectures, the elements of the master’s examination programme often include a practical component as defined in article 1.2 of part A. The course catalogue contains information on the types of classes in each part of the programme. Attendance during practical components is mandatory.

    • Assessment

    Item and weight Details

    Final grade

    0.25 (25%)

    Quizzes

    0.5 (50%)

    reading/research project

    0.25 (25%)

    homework assignments

    The assessment will be comprised of:

    • 2 in-class quizzes
    • 2 graded problem sets
    • presentation on research project (in pairs)

    Fraud and plagiarism

    The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

    Course structure

    Week class (i) class (ii)
    1 Introduction and topics from random variables, probability and estimation Dimensionality and the covariance matrix
    2 Overview of (non-chaotic) nonlinear dynamical systems; Atrractors and bifurcations. Chaos and the statistical perspective
    3 Entropy and variability I, from thermodynamics and statistical phyiscs to information theory Entropy and variability II, from thermodynamics and statistical phyiscs to information theory
    4 Random walks Brownian motion
    5 Fokker-Planck & Linear response Linear continuum elasticity and viscoelasticity
    6 Atomistic elasticity Jamming
    7 project presentations project presentations
    8 project presentations  

    Timetable

    The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

    Contact information

    Coordinator

    • Edan Lerner

    Staff

    • Greg Stephens