Entropy is a central and fundamental concept in statistical mechanics, but considerations of entropy remain far from routine, and exhibit non-trivial and surprising aspects, particularly in soft matter phenomena. Soft matter self-assembly is replete with subtle and fascinating entropic effects. Moving away from the conventional view of entropy as a measure of disorder, current trends in soft matter self assembly increasingly have focused on the connection to information and algorithmic complexity as relevant aspects. Whether organizational principles in non-equilibrium systems may be built around entropy like concepts is an unresolved open question. Transitions in disordered matter such as the glass transition and jamming centrally involve entropy. The nature of order present in seemingly amorphous structures have been explored with concepts of entropy and information. These are some themes that will be explored in the program.
The goal of the program is to bring together researchers investigating these diverse aspects of the non-trivial role of entropy in both equilibrium and non-equilibrium phenomena in soft matter, and in related fields, and to facilitate cross fertilization of ideas among the different themes. We envisage the program as broadly organized among, but not limited to, the following four themes:
- Entropic considerations in self-assembly,
- Entropic considerations in understanding glassy behavior,
- Entropy considerations in out of equilibrium systems: granular matter, active matter, and biological systems, and
- Entropic measures of structural patterns.
Program Activities
The planned program will be for a period of ten weeks, during which we will have one or two talks each day by the program participants. In addition, the program will feature a series of lectures by Daan Frenkel, a workshop and a school.
Infosys-ICTS Chandrasekhar Lectures by Daan Frenkel
Daan Frenkel, Cambridge University, will give three Infosys-ICTS Chandrasekhar lectures during the first two weeks of the program. The dates for the lectures are August 28, 29 and 30, 2018.
Workshop
A three day workshop will occur in the first week of the program, during August 29 - 31, 2018.
Workshop Speakers
School
A school for a three week period will take place during September 17 - Oct 5, 2018.
School Lecturers
Deadlines for applications:
- June 30, 2018, for program [*]
- June 11, 2018, for workshop (oral contribution, poster)
- June 11, 2018, for school (open to graduate students, postdocs)
[*] However, applications will be considered till the program is full