Conveners
(DPMB/DCMMP) W3-1 On the Edge of Order: Phase Transitions and Emergent Fluid Structures | À la limite de l'ordre : transitions de phase et structures fluides émergentes (DPMB/DPMCM)
- Greg van Anders (Queen's University)
- Maria Kilfoil (University of Prince Edward Island / Physics)
Description
Soft Condensed Matter and Biological Physics (DPMB/DCMMP) – This symposium will highlight major foci for researchers at the interface between soft matter and biological physics. Topics will include biopolymers in confined environments, super-biomolecular assemblies, active soft matter, energy fluxes, budgets, and constraints in cells. Join us later at a networking gathering to discuss the exciting developments from the day’s presentations.
Hard spheres confined to long, narrow, cylindrical channels spontaneously form helical structures. We use molecular dynamics simulation to show that the thermodynamics, structure and dynamics of these systems are dominated by the presence of topological defects that reverse the local twist direction of the helix. The equilibrium fluid exhibits two heat capacity maxima related to structural...
Liquid water exhibits a large number of unusual properties, many of which become pronounced in cold and supercooled water, such as the density maximum at 4 C. Based on computer simulations, it has been proposed that a liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT) occurs in supercooled water, in which two phases of liquid water become distinct below a critical point currently estimated to occur at...
Granular materials, ranging from rice and sand to fine powders, and their large-scale manifestations such as earthquakes, landslides, and avalanches, are simultaneously commonplace and deceptively complex. These complex systems exist at the boundary between solid-like and fluid-like, and they are often highly nonlinear, dissipative, and at the edge of stability. Additionally, these materials...
