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SRQ seminar – November 2nd, 2018

Notes from a talk in the SRQ series.

SRQ Seminar 20181102 Jona–Lasinio

Towards a non-equilibrium theormodynamics: the role of large fluctuations

(A physics talk) (slides available)

We are going to discuss, mainly from a theoretical physicist perspective, the role of large fluctuations in non-equilibrium.

Stastistical mechanics provides a model for thermodynamics. While in equilibrium we do not have to solve equations of motions thanks to Gibbs distributions, this is not so outside equilibrium.

Richness of noneq phenomena is enormous. No hope for a general theory.

Diffusion is an almost ubiquous phenomenon. Some models in this context play the role of the Ising model in the theory of critical phenomena.

Here, we look at Macroscopic fluctuation theory, MFT.

Hurricanes, galaxies, molecular motors, tectonics, explosions,