Active Matter: evading the decay to equilibrium

Speaker: Professor Julia M. Yeomans, FRS, FInstP, University of Oxford

Biological systems avoid equilibrium by taking chemical energy from their surroundings to do work. Cells organise intracellular components into the structures they need to grow and move. Tissues, collections of cells, differentiate locally as they develop from egg to animal. Dense, active systems, for example colonies of bacteria, also exist out of thermodynamic equilibrium. They have complex collective behaviour characterised by turbulence and selfpropelled topological defects. However, can the physical theories of nonequilibrium statistical physics, developed to describe active matter, help us understand biological processes such as wound healing, and cell motility?

About the Speaker

Professor Julia Yeomans is the head of the Rudolf Peierls Centre. Research in the group addresses a variety of problems in soft matter and biological physics using theoretical and computational tools from statistical mechanics and hydrodynamics. The group are particularly interested in the dynamics of soft-matter, active systems, motility at low Reynolds number, and the interactions of fluids with structured surfaces. They collaborate closely with other members of the Oxford Centre for Soft and Biological Matter and are embedded in the Condensed Matter Theory group of the Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, part of the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford.

Part of the IOP London and South East (LSE) region autumn/winter 2023/24 Physics Talks Series.

The lecture is free and open to all, registration is not required. 

The venue can be found on the A340 Basingstoke to Newbury Road, just before the Heath End Roundabout at Tadley. The correct gate is signposted West Gate or AWE Staff + Deliveries.

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