Geometry, defects and motion in active matter
Date:
Lecture / Seminar
Time: 13:00
Location: Edna and K.B. Weissman Building of Physical Sciences
Lecturer: Luca Giomi
Organizer: Department of Physics of Complex Systems
Details: Leiden University
Abstract: The paradigm of “active matter” has had notable successes over the past deca ... Read more The paradigm of “active matter” has had notable successes over the past decade in describing self-organization in a surprisingly broad class of biological and bio-inspired systems: from flocks of starlings to robots, down to bacterial colonies, motile colloids and the cell cytoskeleton. Active systems are generic non-equilibrium assemblies of anisotropic components that are able to convert stored or ambient energy into motion. In this talk, I will discuss some recent theoretical and experimental work on active nematic liquid crystals confined on two-dimensional curved interfaces and highlight how the geometrical and topological structure of the environment can substantially affect collective motion in active materials, leading to spectacular life-like functionalities.
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