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PICS Colloquium (Virtual): “Modelling active matter on large length and time scales” with Robert Jack

February 20 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Details
Date: February 20, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Event Category: Colloquium
Event Tags:
Organizer
Penn Institute for Computational Science (PICS)
215-573-6037
dkparks@seas.upenn.edu
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Venue
PICS Conference Room 534 – A Wing , 5th Floor 3401 Walnut Street
Philadelphia
PA 19104
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Abstract: Active matter consists of particles that do work on their environment, for example by propelling themselves through a solvent. Fluids made from many interacting self-propelled particles have become popular as models of non-equilibrium matter: they are challenging for theory and computation because their steady states cannot be derived by minimizing a free energy, nor any other thermodynamic potential. I will discuss their behaviour on large length and time scales, including possibilities for dynamical pattern formation, glassy behavior, and surface phase transitions (wetting).