Statistical Physics of Active Matter
Abstract
Active materials are driven out of equilibrium at the microscopic scale, where individual units dissipate energy stored in the environment to inject momentum into the system. These energetical and mechanical drives out of thermal equilibrium endow active systems which a rich phenomenology, unmatched in passive systems. In this talk, I will review how statistical mechanics approaches account for the emerging properties of active materials, focusing in particular on the mechanical properties of active systems as well as on their collective behaviours.
About the speaker
The research of Professor Julien Tailleur focuses on the emerging properties of active materials, which encompass systems made of large assemblies of units able to exert propelling forces on their environment. Tailleur develops new theoretical methods in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics to predict the emerging behaviors of active systems starting from their microscopic descriptions. In particular, Tailleur and co-workers have discovered how condensed active matter may emerge in the absence of attractive interactions through a mechanism called motility-induced phase separation. Tailleur has also made important contributions to the understanding of the mechanical properties of active systems and of their ability to undergo collective motion.
Tailleur completed earned his PhD in physics in 2007 from Université Pierre et Marie Curie, where he worked under the supervision of Jorge Kurchan. Tailleur then became a postdoc at the University of Edinburgh where he obtained an EPSRC postdoctoral fellowship and worked with Michael Cates and Martin Evans. Tailleur joined French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Université Paris Diderot in 2011, then becoming a CNRS Director of Research in 2018. Tailleur joined the MIT Physics Department as an associate professor in July 2022. Tailleur received the 2025 Tel Aviv University Prize in Biophysics and is currently acting as Divisional Associate Editor for Physical Review Letters.
This year, we will continue with the new format:
- Onsite at Campus Belval, where you will have the opportunity to meet the speaker over lunch. Catering is offered from 12.00 to all registered participants (MSA 3rd floor). Talk at 13.00 in MSA 3.330
- Online – through Webex – to allow you to listen to the talk in case you are traveling or cannot make it on-site at Campus Belval. Here are the details to join the talk online:
https://unilu.webex.com/unilu/j.php?MTID=ma9f4c916851ee2df7c3437d5f6b08292
Meeting number: 2738 634 4463
Meeting password: yKQ2gbd2fT2
For organizational reasons, please register for lunch before 10 April 2025