Vorlesung SoSe 2021

While statistical mechanics has been very successful in describing matter in equilibrium, all natural processes occur in nonequilibrium. Some transport and relaxation processes stay close to equilibrium and can be understood well, many natural phenomena, however, take place far from equilibrium and require novel concepts. The lecture will provide an introduction into the theoretical concepts and methods which presently are being developed and applied to understand the dynamics of many-body systems out of equilibrium, such as open, driven, active, information processing, biological, and evolutionary systems. While no unifying theory of nonequilibrium yet exists, the lecture will provide a guide to the ongoing research that has the potential to reach far beyond physics into the sciences and technology.

Topics: Linear response theory; Stochastic processes; Functional integrals; Entropy variational principles; Large deviation formalism.

Applications will include examples ranging from phase transformation kinetics and pattern formation to biophysics and information processing.

Literature:

‘Nonequilibrium Statistical Physics’, R. Livi & P. Politi (Cambridge UP, 2017)

‘Field Theory of Non-Equilibrium Systems’, A. Kamenev (Cambridge UP, 2011)

‘ Nonequilibrium liquids’, D. Evans & G. Morriss (Cambridge UP, 2008)

‘Information Theory, Inference, and learning algorithms’, D. MacKay (CUP, 2003)