Activities
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active systems. a blind spot in physics
Robert Alicki
University of Gdańsk, Poland
2 August 2022 Tue 5 pm
IBS Center for Theoretical Physics of Complex Systems (PCS), Administrative Office (B349), Theory Wing, 3rd floor
Expo-ro 55, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea, 34126 Tel: +82-42-878-8633
Active systems drive mass , energy and electric currents against potential gradients. They cannot be described by Onsager/Prigogine thermodynamics without introducing phenomenological nonphysical concepts like negative friction, negative resistance, etc. The concept of pumping is necessary to describe active systems. Permanently working engine-pump systems always involve macroscopic (or semiclassical) cyclic motion (piston oscillation or turbine rotation ). Engine cycles are self-oscillations/rotations generated by a feedback. Selected classical and quantum models of active systems are discussed.