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SUMMARY:MechE Seminar: Topological defects in active and living matter
DTSTART:20250519T110000
DTEND:20250519T120000
DTSTAMP:20260415T191254Z
UID:e541ba7c5385778379cc97c02bffb3ac54c07a7a932392837be99311
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Cristina Marchetti\, University of California\, Santa B
 arbara\nAbstract:\nMotile topological defects are the hallmark of active n
 ematic liquid crystals\, where defect creation\, motion and annihilation c
 ontinuously remodel the texture and drive self-sustained active flows. Def
 ects have also been shown to play an important role in the organization of
  epithelial tissue and in animal morphogenesis. In this talk I will descri
 be topological defects in an active nematic elastomer – a solid-like mat
 erials where forces are generated internally by active processes. I will s
 how that in these active solids defects can become motile through local me
 lting of the nematic texture driven by strains induced by active stresses.
  Unlike in fluids\, where defects are advected by active flows\, this mech
 anism does not require flow of material as the defect move relative to the
  medium via local remodeling of the texture. This work provides a natural 
 framework for understanding the restructuring of the nematic order observe
 d in the fresh water polyp Hydra when the organism regenerates itself from
  an excised fragment.\n\n\nBio:\nCristina Marchetti is a Professor of Phys
 ics at the University of California Santa Barbara\, where she joined the f
 aculty in 2018\, after about thirty years on the faculty at Syracuse Unive
 rsity. She is a theoretical physicist who has worked on a broad range of p
 roblems in condensed matter and biological physics\, including supercooled
  fluids\, transport in disordered media\, superconductors\, cell mechanics
 \, and\, most recently\, the physics of active matter. Marchetti is a Fell
 ow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for th
 e Advancement of Science\, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sc
 iences and the US National Academy of Sciences.  In 2019 she was awarded 
 the inaugural 2019 Leo P. Kadanoff Prize by the American Physical Society 
 for "original contributions to equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical
  mechanics\, including profound work on equilibrium and driven vortex syst
 ems\, and fundamental research and leadership in the growing field of acti
 ve matter.”
LOCATION:BM 5202 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BM%205202
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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