Statistical Physics of Design: Materials to Macroscale

我的发现资助项目将开发新的基于统计物理学的方法，用于研究和识别设计问题中的共性和基本现象，这些问题涉及纳米结构材料的微观细节和宏观对象和系统。自2015年以来，我和我的学生开发了基于扩展集合统计力学的新方法来研究设计问题。我们引入了“数字炼金术”来实现软性胶体材料的理性、逆向设计，我们引入了“系统物理学”来阐明工业设计中的基本现象。我们已经证明，在纳米大小的粒子和数百米大小的船只的设计中，共同的数学和物理原理是基础。在DG提案下，我的小组将在更广泛的材料类别和复杂系统中阐明这些原则。本课程将深入了解设计中的基本挑战，并在物理学和工程学之间开辟新的对话形式。我在此提案下的目标是：开发新的方法来促进可重构性、可升级性和灵活性，跨越广泛的设计问题，从强大的物流网络到可切换的纳米材料。开发理解、量化和沟通约束因素如何影响复杂系统决策的方法。-在一系列问题类型中开发识别和量化关键设计驱动因素的方法。-开发开源软件，以实现上述目标，供更广泛的社区使用。-继续提供一个培训环境，使用广泛的问题类型基础，积极激发HQP思考如何将研究问题和主题延伸到他们的直接工作之外。我的小组将通过使用扩展统计集合的常用方法来执行这个程序。我们将使用这些集合来重新构建设计问题，以揭示不同层次的设计自由。我们将从多个角度研究设计问题的统计描述，并量化其对决策的影响。我们将研究在设计问题的微观和宏观描述之间移动如何影响对问题说明的理解，特别是子系统之间的交互。我们将开发新的计算机模拟技术，以及张量网络的新应用。该项目将为加拿大胶体科学界带来新技术，并将为复杂系统中的决策提供新的工具和语言。这些新技术和工具可以为工业和国防部的工程师提供信息。我将为15名HQP提供严格的、广泛适用的数学、计算和数据科学技术培训，并为他们在工业和学术界利用他们的先进技能从事一系列职业做好准备。

My discovery grant program will develop new statistical physics based approaches for studying and identifying commonalities and basic phenomena among design problems that span microscopic details of nanostructured materials and macroscale objects and systems. Since 2015, my students and I have developed new approaches based on the statistical mechanics of extended ensembles to study problems in design. We introduced "Digital Alchemy" to achieve rational, inverse design in soft colloidal materials, and we introduced "Systems Physics" to elucidate basic phenomena in industrial design. We have shown that common mathematical and physical principles underlie design in nanometre sized particles and in ships hundreds of metres in size. Work in my group under this DG proposal will elucidate these principles in broader classes of materials and in complex systems. This program will lead to deeper understanding of fundamental challenges in design and open new forms of conversation between physics and engineering. My aims under this proposal are to: - Develop new means to promote reconfigurability, upgradability, and flexibility across a broad range of design problems, ranging from robust logistics networks to switchable nanomaterials. - Develop approaches to understand, quantify, and communicate how constraints affect decision making in complex systems. - Develop approaches for identifying and quantifying key design drivers across a range of problem types. - Develop open-source software that achieves the above aims for use by the broader community. - Continue to provide a training environment that uses a broad base of problem types to actively stimulate HQP to think about how research questions and themes stretch beyond their immediate work. My group will carry out this program by using the common approach of extended statistical ensembles. We will use these ensembles to re-frame design problems to reveal different levels of design freedom. We will study statistical descriptions of design problems from multiple perspectives and quantify the effects on decision making. We will study how moving between micro- and macroscopic descriptions of design problems influences understanding of problem specification, particularly on the interaction between subsystems. We will develop new computer simulation techniques, and new applications of tensor networks. This program will bring new techniques to the colloid science community in Canada, and will provide new tools and language to inform decision making in complex systems. These new techniques and tools can inform engineers in industry and at the Department of National Defence. I will provide 15 HQP with a rigorous, training in broadly applicable mathematical, computing, and data science techniques, and prepare them for a range of careers that leverage their advanced skills in industry and academia.