Active Matter

Harvard FAS

Active matter describes out of equilibrium systems that consume energy to do work and become functional. Understanding their behavior and function has implications for biology and complex systems across scales, from cells to ecosystems, e.g., morphogenesis, collective behavior of flocks and herds, neurodynamics of locomotion, etc. The tools and concepts needed include non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, kinetic theory, soft matter, and hydrodynamics; methods for the analysis of the models…