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Complex Fluids 2007
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On the role of free energy
in complex systems: from rigorous results to
phenomenological models
CSIC Building (#406),
Seminar Room 4122.
Directions: home.cscamm.umd.edu/directions
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On the role of free energy in complex systems: from
rigorous results to phenomenological models
Professor
Ibrahim Fatkullin
University of Arizona
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Abstract:
The concept of free energy has been actively
employed in studies of complex systems for many
decades. Yet there exist several intriguing
mysteries about it that remain poorly understood.
For example, its relation to nonequilibrium
processes (as introduced in rigorous statistical
mechanics, it is a purely equilibrium concept) and
the reasons that gradient flows induced by free
energy functionals (e.g, Doi-Smoluchowski,
Allen-Cahn, Cahn-Hilliard, and many other equations
describe gradient flow evolutions in various
function spaces) often appear as adequate
phenomenological models of macroscopic phenomena. In
this talk I will try to shed some light on these
issues and illustarate the associated ideas and
methods using examples from physics of liquid
crystals and polymers. |
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