Applications of Statistical Mechanics

J. K. G. Dhont (Soft Condensed Matter)
G. Gompper (Theoretical Soft Matter and Biophysics)
(building 15.1X, room 249)

In this lecture series, the general statistical mechanics framework will be applied to study of properties of several specific systems:

• Polymers:
  Polymers are chain molecules, in which the same or similar building blocks, the monomers, are repeated many times, usually in a linear sequence. Typical examples are polyethylene, polyethyleneoxide, actin, DNA, and proteins. Flexible polymers have interesting conformational and dynamical properties. In addition to linear chains, many other polymer architectures exist, such as diblock copolymers, star polymers, or polymer brushes. Biological polymers are often characterized by active processes, such as tread-milling, growth and collapse, and the motion of motor proteins.
• Membranes:
  Membranes consist of amphiphilic molecules, which aggregate in aqueous solution due to the hydrophobic effect. Shapes and thermal fluctuations of membranes are controlled by the curvature energy. Biological membranes are usually multi-component lipid mixtures, which show phase separation, domain formation and budding.
• Colloids:
  Colloidal systems are solutions of large molecules like proteins, bacteria and inorganic particles, which have a size in the range of a few nanometers to microns. The fundamental interactions between colloidal particles will be addressed, including van der Waals forces, interactions between charged colloids, and depletion interactions. These interactions lead to different types of phase transitions, which will be discussed on an intuitive level. After an elementary introduction, a more quantitative approach will be given towards the prediction of microstructural order, the gas-liquid phase transition, and the isotropic-nematic phase transition for rod-like colloids. Time-dependent phenomena are then addressed, including diffusion and phase-separation kinetics.

Wednesday, October 20, 1:00-2:30 and 2:45-3:30 (exercises)
Wednesday, November 10, 1:00-2:30 and 2:45-3:30 (exercises)
Wednesday, December 8, 1:00-2:30 and 2:45-3:30 (exercises) 12:30-1:45
Wednesday, January 12, 1:00-2:30 and 2:45-3:30 (exercises)
Wednesday, February 2, 1:00-2:30 and 2:45-3:30 (exercises)