Abstract

Active matter consists of a large number of “active” particles, each of which is capable of consuming energy locally, causing them to move with deterministic or stochastic rules that break the time reversal symmetry. Examples of active matter are commonplace in biology: bird flocks, bacteria colonies, tumour growth, self-organising bio-polymers etc. As a result of this constant injection and dissipation of energy at the microscopic level, these systems are permanently driven away from equilibrium, where many familiar principles of statistical physics don’t apply. Recent progresses have enabled us to capture the collective behaviours of many complex biological systems in terms of simpler models, making it easier to trace the non-equilibrium nature of such systems. Specifically, the talk will focus on self-propelled bacteria with quorum sensing and population dynamics.