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SYSD: Symposium SKM Dissertation Prize 2024

SYSD 1: SKM Dissertation Prize

SYSD 1.4: Invited Talk

Monday, March 18, 2024, 11:00–11:30, H 1012

Field theories in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics: from molecules to galaxies — •Michael te Vrugt — DAMTP, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0WA, United Kingdom

The collective dynamics of systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium is significantly richer, but also significantly less well understood than that of their equilibrium counterparts. An improved understanding can be gained from coarse-grained theories, which describe the system on a macroscopic level and which can be systematically derived from the microscopic dynamics. In this talk, I will discuss this using two examples. First, I present a model for infectious disease spreading [1] based on dynamical density functional theory [2] in which effects of social distancing are explicitly incorporated as repulsive interactions. Second, I discuss an extension of the Mori-Zwanzig projection operator formalism towards general relativity [3] and thereby show how statistical mechanics allows for a better understanding of the expansion of the universe.

[1] MtV, J. Bickmann, R. Wittkowski, Nature Communications 11, 5576 (2020)

[2] MtV, H. Löwen, R. Wittkowski, Advances in Physics 69, 121*247 (2020)

[3] MtV, S. Hossenfelder, R. Wittkowski, Physical Review Letters 127, 231101 (2021)

Keywords: Statistical Mechanics; Epidemiology; General Relativity; Density Functional Theory; Mori-Zwanzig Formalism