CSP - WORKSHOP: The Statistical Physics of Active Matter
Abstract
A week-long Workshop on ``The Statistical Mechanics of Active Matter?????? will be held at the EttoreMajorana Centre for Scientific Culture in Eric, Sicily, October 1-6, 2018. The term active matterrefers to collections of self-driven entities that take energy form the environment to generateorganized motion at large scales. Examples abound in the living world, ranging from the flocking ofbirds to the sorting and organization of cells in morphogenesis. Theoretical work over the last twodecades has shown that many aspects of the complex organization seen in nature from bird flocks tocell groups can be captured by physical models based on a minimal set of interactions, leading to theemergence of the new field of active matter. This has additionally inspired the development ofingenious synthetic chemical and mechanical analogues with life-like properties, such as ???active???colloids (aka artificial microswimmers), micron-size polystyrene spheres partly coated with a catalystthat promotes the decomposition of one of the components of the ambient fluid, resulting in selfpropulsionof the colloidal particles driven by self-catalytic reactions.With the organization of this Conference, we will provide a unique opportunity to exchangepoints of view, promote contacts and new collaborations among researchers from different areas ofscience and technology, and debate innovative applications of this emerging new technology.Specific objectives are:??? To develop more general kinetic and thermodynamic frameworks to describe the propertiesof active matter.??? To understand how hydrodynamic and entropic interaction affect transport of artificial microswimmersin fluidic channels, with the ultimate goal of controlling diffusion of active matterin confined structures of different topology.??? To design synthetic microswimmers with basic adaptive properties aimed at improving theirautonomous directionality in the presence of activation gradients.Recent years have witnessed a very rapid growth of the field and substantial advances in thedevelopment of the statistical mechanics of active systems that do not obey detailed balance and theclassification and characterization of their phases and behaviours. This has been paralleled byexperimental advances in the design of new controlled synthetic active matter systems that providestringent testing ground for the theory, with the goal of ultimately learning how to mimic nature anddesign new materials with specific tunable functions.On a more applied side, a major effort is underway to control active transport in microfluidiccircuits, where artificial active particles can stir or separate passive colloidal particles or biomolecules,or even act as autonomous pumps. Microfluidic chips are applicable in a wide range oftechnologies and markets. In the chemical processing industry for example - reactors, mixers,dispensers, heat exchangers, separators and analysis functions are fundamental ???unit operations??? thatcan be realised at the microfluidic scale. In the life sciences industry - high throughput screening anddrug discovery, DNA amplification in genomics, and cell analysis (e.g. screening, counting, sorting)are typical application areas. In addition, diagnostic tools and biochemical monitoring of materialssuch as soil, water, pesticides, and agents used in chemical warfare, further broaden the applicationsareas.The topic of the workshop fits the area Autonomy & Unmanned Systems, Objective: NovelPlatforms and Integration: Bio-inspired systems that rely on principles of perception, sensori-motorcontrol, biomechanics and fluid dynamics found in nature but not yet in engineered systems of the???Naval Science and Technology Strategic Plan???
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 27, 2018
- Source ID
- N629091812123
Entities
People
- Fabio Marchesoni
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Camerino