Interdisciplinary Challenges in Non-Equilibrium Physics

10- 13 April 2019
University of Edinburgh, The Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics, School of Physics and Astronomy

Purpose

Non-equilibrium processes play important roles at many length scales, from controlling chromatin interactions within a cell nucleus to governing the collective dynamics of fish schools. "Interdisciplinary Challenges in Non-Equilibrium Physics" will bring together early career researchers working across these scales. By identifying common theoretical insights, computational approaches and experimental methodologies between disciplines, the meeting aims to promote collaborations and knowledge exchange among early career researchers. The sessions will each focus on one of six inter-related topics: biophysics, polymers, ecology and population dynamics, active matter, non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and glasses and disordered systems.
The meeting will take place at the Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics in the King's Buildings campus of the University of Edinburgh, running over four days from Wednesday the 10th (afternoon) to Saturday the 13 (morning) of April, 2019.
This meeting is supported by the Higgs Centre, the EPSRC Network on Emergence and Physics Far From Equilibrium (EMNEQ) and Physics of Life.

Who should attend?

This meeting should be of broad interest to early career researchers working across scales in physics and biology.

Programme

Sessions, Speakers and Talk Titles:

Day 1	Wednesday 10 April
13.00	Registration
Session 1	Noise Driven Systems
14.00	Stefano Bo, Can microscopic system exploit noise? The case of driven anisotropic diffusion at boundaries
14.30	Grant Rotskoff, Nonequilibrium importance sampling with a driven dynamics
15.00	Alexandre Lazarescu, Large deviations and dynamical phase transitions in stochastic chemical networks
15.30	Break
Session 2	Active Polymers
16.00	Tom Ouldridge, Biological copying of polymers: a necessarily non-equilibrium process
16.30	Aleksandre Japaridze, The role of spatial confinement in DNA organization: From single molecules to bacterial chromosomes
17.00	Luca Tubiana, Title TBC
17.30	Jan Smrek, Active-passive polymer mixtures in relation to chromatin conformation and dynamics
Day Two	Thursday 11 April
Session 3	Topology
9.30	Lucia Coronel, Dynamics of supercoiled knotted DNA: large-scale rearrangements and persistent multi-strand interlocking
10.00	Amin Doostmohammadi, Active Thin Structures
10.30	Dan Pearce, Controlling active matter with curvature and topology
11.00	Break
Session 4	Rheology
11.30	Nicoletta Gnan,The microscopic role of deformation in the dynamics of soft colloids
12.00	Jan Meibohm, Catastrophes and Large deviations in turbulent aerosols
12.30	Romain Mari, Dynamic vorticity banding in discontinuously shear thickening suspensions
13.00	Lunch
Session 5	Slow Relaxation
14.00	Beatriz Seoane, Spin-glass-like dynamics in highly compressed colloidal and granular glasses
14.30	Misaki Ozawa, Numerical Investigation of Ideal Glass Transition in Glass-Forming Liquids
15.00	Elisabeth Agoritsas, Out-of-equilibrium dynamics of particle systems in infinite dimension
15.30	Francesco Turci, Structural-dynamical correlations and rigid response
16.00-17.30	Poster Session/Social Event
Day Three	Friday 12 April
Session 6	Swimmers
9.30	Raphael Jeanneret, Pairing in planktonic elongated diatoms, or how synchronized-sinking favors cell encounter for sexual reproduction
10.00	Fanlong Meng, Magnetic swimmers in a microfluidic channel
10.30	Joakim Stenhammar, Correlations and collective behaviours in suspensions of swimming microorganisms
11.00	Break
Session 7	Physics of Motion
11.30	Kirsty Wan, Non-equilibrium and critical behaviour in biological microswimmers
12.00	Demian Levis, Activity induced synchronization in chiral active matter
12.30	Ariana Bottinelli, Predicting collective motion in high-density crowds
13.00	Lunch
Session 8	Tissues and Biofilms
14.00	Diana Khoromskaia, Active surface models for cell and tissue morphogenesis
14.30	Ananyo Maitra, Unusual stability of oriented active suspensions on substrates
15.00	Silke Henkes, Universal motion patterns in confluent cell monolayers
15.30-17.30	Poster Session/Social Event
Day Four	Saturday 13 April
Session 9	Ecology and Evolution
9.30	Andrea Giometto, Mechanical interactions reduce the power of natural selection in growing yeast colonies
10.00	Hye Jin Park, Population size and interaction structure driven by mutant interactors
10.30	Matthieu Barbier, Are complex ecosystems ever simple? Disorder in competition experiments
11.00	Break
Session 10	Inference and Optimisation
11.30	Barbara Bravi, Characterizing and inferring epistasis via direct evolutionary couplings in models of allostery
12.00	Caterina De Bacco, A physical model for efficient ranking in networks
	Silvia Zaoli, Trip Centrality: walking on a temporal multiplex with non-instantaneous link travel time
13.00	Workshop Close

Registration and Abstract Submission

Please complete the registration in order to insure your place for the Workshop. Please note that there is a registration fee of £10, contributing to the cost of lunch and refreshments during the breaks. Accommodation for this event should be arranged separately. Please note, there are limited spaces available for this event. Registration will close as soon as capacity has been reached. For any enquiries relating to this event, please email: k.h.baker@dur.ac.uk.

Directions

The meeting will take place at the University of Edinburgh in the James Clerk Maxwell Building, Kings Buildings. 15 minutes by bus from Edinburgh city centre. Details on getting from the City Centre to JCMB here. A map of the Kings Buildings campus here. Edinburgh is well served by trains and planes.