This award supports theoretical research and education on condensed matter and biological systems that are maintained out of equilibrium by external or internal energy sources and exhibit emergent structures with collective behavior qualitatively different from that of the individual constituents. The research has two main thrusts.
The PI will use analytical and numerical methods to analyze the structural and mechanical properties of active matter; biofilaments and motor proteins and collections of self-propelled (both living and nonliving) entities. A specific goal of the research is to understand the interplay between physical mechanisms and biochemical or other processes in regulating the large-scale organization and function of active matter.
The PI will also study coarse-grained models of driven extended media that are "plastically deformed" by the interplay of disorder and drive. Experimental realizations include vortex lattices in superconductors and crack propagation in solids. Coarse-grained models will be studied in finite dimensions by field theoretical methods and numerical simulations to make contact with experiments. This works toward unified classification of the complex nonequilibrium dynamics of driven disordered systems.
There are broader impacts to this research. It is an example of taking tradition analysis of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics from physics and discovering that when applied to living systems, both the theory and its applicable subject benefit. Only now is it being understood that emergent behaviors naturally occur in such nonequilibrium systems.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: This award supports theoretical research and education in the area of statistical physics with a focus on biological systems and other systems that are normally out of equilibrium. The normal out-of-equilibrium state is maintained through energy flow and this has been realized as the distinguishing characteristic of systems where spontaneous creation or organization occurs. Living systems fall into the category of highly complex out-of-equilibrium systems that require a constant supply of energy, e.g. food. The PI will use statistical physics and other tools from theoretical physics to seek fundamental principles that govern how spontaneous organization can occur. In turn new general principles of the statistical physics of systems far from equilibrium and emergent behavior will be discovered. This fundamental research is intrinsically interdisciplinary with a focus at the interface between condensed matter and materials physics, and biology. This award supports undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral education in this growing area of opportunity for fundamental research and new technologies.
