Nonequilibrium processes in physics, chemistry and biology

The great majority of physical, chemical, and biological processes occur outside the thermodynamic equilibrium. How do we describe many-particle systems driven away from equilibrium, or evolving towards the equilibrium due to an interaction with an environment? In contrast to the universality of the thermodynamics, the nonequilibrium evolution is system specific and requires individual approach.

The purpose of the course is to introduce basic concepts of kinetic theory and stochastic processes, and to study practical tools to investigate non equilibrium states. We will discuss the origin of irreversible evolution and dissipation, hierarchy of relaxation processes, transport phenomena and noise, Brownian motion.

The course includes a selection of applications to quantum solid state systems, chemical reaction kinetics, and soft matter like colloidal dispersions, polymers, gels, glasses and biological systems.