Icke-jämviktsprocesser inom fysik, kemi och biologi

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 this 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.

The first half of the course deals with general concepts of non-equilibrium statistical physics and methods to describe dissipative and transport processes in many-body systems. Starting with a simple example of a random walk the basic concepts in probability theory and stochastic processes are introduced. More complex systems are studied via the Boltzmann equation and by considering Markov processes. The latter introduces the study of Master-, Fokker-Planck- and Langevin equations. The student can choose two different directions for the second part of the course:

1. Quantum non-equilibrium systems
   Here we consider applications in modern solid state physics, quantum electronics and optics. We study methods to describe the state and evolution of quantum nonequilibrium systems, linear response theory, problem of quantum noise, relation between fluctuations and dissipation, behavior of quantum particle in an environment.
2. Transport in soft matter and biological systems
   Here we study applications in complex systems. We study methods to describe transport processes in various systems like polymers, colloids, soft matter. Description of chemical reactions and Brownian motors. Applications to systems in physics, chemistry and biology.

The course is based on a series of lectures and exercises. The second half of the course can be organized as a project work.