Complex systems

The aim of this lecture is to provide a description of quantum transport in disordered systems, with an emphasis on important phenomena like weak localization, Anderson localization and the Anderson metal-insulator transition. During the lecture, a number of important theoretical tools needed to describe quantum particle scattering in the presence of spatial disorder will be introduced in a pedagogical fashion, such as the Green's function technique, diagrammatic approaches to weak localization and transfer matrices. The lectures will be also illustrated by experimental examples and tutorials, especially taken from the physics of quantum gases and  condensed matter.

Computational physics plays a central role in all fields of physics, from classical statistical physics, soft matter problems, and hard-condensed matter. Our goal is to cover the very basic concepts underlying computer simulations in classical and quantum problems, and connect these ideas to relevant contemporary research problems in various fields of physics. In the TD’s you will also learn how to set, perform and analyse simple computer simulations by yourself. We will use Python, but no previous knowledge of this programming language is needed.

In this course, you will learn tools and ideas developed by statistical physics to deal with "complex systems". These tools can be used in different contexts, including economics and social sciences where the modelling of collective phenomena, crises, panics, and discontinuities, is more necessary than ever.

The lectures offer a statistical-physics perspective on active matter, which encompasses systems whose fundamental constituents dissipate energy to exert forces on the environment. This out-of-equilibrium microscopic drive endows active systems with properties unmatched in passive ones. From molecular motors to bacteria and animals, active agents are found at all scales in nature. Over the past twenty years, physicists and chemists have also engineered synthetic active systems in the lab, by motorizing particles whose sizes range from nanometers to centimeters, hence paving the way towards the engineering of active materials.

The lectures will rely on the modern tools of statistical mechanics, from stochastic calculus to field theoretical methods, using both theoretical models and experimental systems to illustrate the rich physics of active matter.