Statistical Field Theories and Collective Phenomena

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0118213KardarThis grant supports research and education aimed at understanding static and dynamic fluctuation phenomena in polymers, gels, flux lines, surfaces, complex fluids, and social networks. Field theory and numerical methods, e.g. Monte Carlo simulation, will be used to extract universal features of these interacting systems. New theoretical methods may be developed in the course of the work. Research will focus on several specific questions: Are knots and entanglements in polymers such as DNA localized by energy or entropy effects on shorter segments? How are fluctuations modified in the vicinity of a deformed surface, and can they be used to provide indirect information about deformations? Can we describe the emergence of patterns in biological systems (cortical maps, cell motility, and structural constructs from molecular motors and microtubules) by continuum field equations, and what do we learn from such modeling? What is the interplay of order and fluctuations in the non-equilibrium contexts of growing films and drifting lattices? Can simple biological systems be mimicked by imprinting desired information in seemingly random gels at the molecular level?%%%This grant supports fundamental theoretical research and education in an area of statistical physics dealing with static and dynamic fluctuation phenomena in polymers, gels, flux lines, surfaces, complex fluids, biological systems, and social networks. The PI will use advanced theoretical techniques to address specific questions involving equilibrium and nonequilibrium phenomena in polymer physics, film and crystal growth, cortical maps, and molecular biology. Students will be trained in advanced theoretical methods for statistical physics and their applications to a wide range of systems including biological systems.***