NANO1: Theories of Everything: Thermodynamics, Statistical Physics, Quantum Mechanics

label Diverse autorenew 2025-09-29, 17:01 history_edu Silviu Marinescu
The physics and chemistry of the world immediately around us can be described by a limited number of well-established theories. Thermodynamics with its two fundamental laws is at the basis of it all, classical and quantum mechanics account for the description of structure and changes, and statistical physics allows us to deal with the enormous number of possible states in even the simplest interesting systems. Taken separately each of these fields has clear foundations and sets of rules which, at least in principle, permit us to describe and predict almost all processes we, as physical chemists, are interested in. There remain, however, fundamental problems where these fields interact. Classical and quantum mechanics are fundamentally incompatible, the relation between the dynamical laws of statistical and classical mechanics has been controversial since the mid 19th century, and even though the greatest physicists believe that the laws of thermodynamics will never be overthrown, its fundaments and consequences often need to be reexamined. In this course I give an overview of the fundamentals, and discuss some of the problems. To show where and why these problems are relevant, the photosynthetic complex is used. This complex is a large collection of proteins and pigments in which many different processes take place: interaction of light and matter, energy-, electron-, and proton transfer reactions, molecular diffusion and reorientation, dynamical processes on virtually any length and time scale. Almost all these processes cross the borders between the fields mentioned, and therefore form an interesting playground for our theories. Recent controversies - is the photosynthetic efficiency higher than Carnot efficiency? does coherence or entanglement play a role in energy absorption and transfer? - and fundamental problems - how are the quantum transfer reactions coupled to a classical environment? - can be illustrated and investigated using this system. Which has the added advantage that it is extremely relevant for our survival, so that an enormous body of experimental results has become available in the past fifty years or so. Although I could not possibly claim to have all the solutions, or even a few, I do hope in this course to provide some of the tools that have been developed over time to think about the questions. In the mean time we also learn something about photosynthesis. Lectures and work sessions give ample opportunity to discuss and investigate some of the problems in detail. Course material will be provided.

Period
11-08-2014 - 22-08-2014 (2 weeks)

Target group
The Summer School annually offers courses for advanced masters students, graduate students and post-docs in the various fields of science.

Course aim
The most important aims of the Summer School are to develop post-graduates scientific readiness and to offer students the possibility to study in a modern, scientific environment and to create connections to the international science community.



Credits
3.0 ECTS creditsObligatory attendance at lectures, and the students will pass by completing the assignments.Grading: Pass/fail

Course fee
EUR 0[Convert to USD]Participating the Summer School is free of charge, but student have to cover the costs of own travel, accommodation and meals at Jyvskyl.

Course leader
Coordinators: Prof. Janne Ihalainen (University of Jyvskyl, Finland), and Dr. Gerrit Groenhof (University of Jyvskyl, Finland)Lecturer: Associate Professor Gert van der Zwan (VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Scholarships
The 24th Jyvskyl Summer School is not able to grant any Summer School students financial support. In order to ensure your participation, we recommend that you take steps to secure your own funding, for example, by turning first to your home institution

University of Jyvaskyla Faculty of Mathematics and Science and Faculty of Information Technology
Address: Jyvaskyla Summer School, Faculty of Mathematics and Science P.O.Box 35 (YK312), FIN-40014 University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Postal code: FIN-40014
City: Jyvaskyla
Country: Finland
Website: http://www.jyu.fi/summerschool
E-mail: jss@jyu.fi
Phone: +358505818351