Active matter and collective behaviour

Diploma(s)
Place
ENS-PSL
Spring semester
Level Master 2 3 ECTS - English
Instructor(s) Carine DOUARCHE ( Paris-Saclay University ) Charlie DUCLUT ( Sorbonne Université I. Curie )
Contact - Secrétariat de l’enseignement

Tél : + 33 (1) 44 32 35 60  
enseignement@phys.ens.fr


Contact - Secrétariat pédagogique

Tel : + 33 (1) 44 32 35 60 
Médina Mahrez 


Correspondants

Sorbonne Université  
arnaud.antkowiak@upmc.fr

Université Paris Cité  
florence.elias@univ-paris-diderot.fr

Université Paris-Saclay  
emmanuelle.rio@universite-paris-saclay.fr 

Institut Polytechnique de Paris  
quere@pmmh.espci.fr

Ecole Normale Supérieure  
aleksandra.walczak@phys.ens.fr

The lectures offer a statistical-physics perspective on active matter, which encompasses systems whose fundamental constituents dissipate energy to exert forces on the environment. This out-of-equilibrium microscopic drive endows active systems with properties unmatched in passive ones. From molecular motors to bacteria and animals, active agents are found at all scales in nature. Over the past twenty years, physicists and chemists have also engineered synthetic active systems in the lab, by motorizing particles whose sizes range from nanometers to centimeters, hence paving the way towards the engineering of active materials.

The lectures will rely on the modern tools of statistical mechanics, from stochastic calculus to field theoretical methods, using both theoretical models and experimental systems to illustrate the rich physics of active matter.

Syllabus
  • Active matter at microscopic scales 
    • Models of active particles; dynamics; non-Boltzmann statistics
  • Collective behavior of active particles
    • Motility-induced phase separation; from micro to macro
  • Large-scale (hydrodynamic) description of active matter
    • Irreversible thermodynamics of active matter; active polar gels
Prerequisites
  • equilibrium statistical mechanics
  • stochastic calculus
Evaluation

Written exam

Bibliography

Gardiner, Handbook of stochastic methods for physics, chemistry and the natural sciences, Springer (1995)

Marchetti, et al., Hydrodynamics of soft active matter, Rev. Mod. Phys. 85, 1143 (2013)

K. Sekimoto, Stochastic Energetics, Springer (2010)

Van Kampen, Stochastic processes in Physics and Chemistry, Elsevier (1992)