Wednesday Colloquia

The strange physics of self-driven particles

by Prof. Sriram Ramaswamy (IISc Bangalore)

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 from to (Asia/Kolkata)
at ( AG-66 )
Description
Active Matter -- collections of particles that continually convert free energy to work -- is the focus of intense interest in nonequilibrium physics. While this vibrant field was defined to bring living systems into the condensed-matter fold, much excitement and many insights have flowed from simple artificial active materials. My talk, aimed at a broad scientific audience, will introduce the subject including pre-history and classic results, and then turn to our recent findings from theory, experiments and simulations. I will highlight the roles of chirality and non-mutual interactions, and offer a perspective on controversies and long-term challenges in the field.