Soft Matter Physics research seminar: Statistical mechanics of slow dynamics - glasses and beyond
![Soft matter research at the University of Leeds](http://eps.leeds.ac.uk/images/resized/750x375-0-0-1-80-Soft_Matter_research_university_of_leeds_school_of_physics_and_astronomy_800x400.jpg)
- Date: Wednesday 16 October 2019, 14:00 – 15:00
- Location: EC Stoner (7.79)
- Type: Soft matter physics, Seminars, Physics and Astronomy
- Cost: Free
Professor Juan P Garrahan (University of Nottingham) will be presenting a seminar on his research in soft matter physics.
Systems which relax slowly and eventually fall out of equilibrium are widespread in classical (soft) condensed-matter. The paradigmatic example is represented by liquids which when supercooled end up forming glasses.
Professor Juan P Garrahan (University of Nottingham) will review the phenomenology of the glass transition, as the template for dynamical arrest in classical many-body systems more broadly. He will then address the question of how to describe these physics theoretically. He will focus on a perspective whereby complex slow relaxation is a consequence of (emergent) constrained dynamics. A key insight is that the interesting structure is not encountered in static configurations but in trajectories of the dynamics, which requires the use a ``statistical mechanics of trajectories'' based on the mathematics of large deviations. Slow dynamics is then seen as a consequence of phase transitions occurring in space-time (rather than in space as in the standard equilibrium case). He will also discuss the wider application of these concepts to other non-equilibrium systems.
The event will be hosted by Dr Johan Mattsson.
All are welcome to attend.