2019 Arnold Sommerfeld School

The Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics at the LMU in Munich will host a school on “The Physics of Life” in the period October 7-11, 2019.

This school is primarily aimed at PhD and MSc level students in the fields of biological physics, statistical mechanics, and soft-matter. We offer an assortment of interactive blackboard lectures and seminar style talks by internationally renowned scientists. The lectures and seminars will cover various topics central to the Physics of Life: Population genetics, morphogenesis, collective non-equilibrium dynamics, active matter, pattern formation, optimization principles in biophysics and evolution, and more.

There will also be a poster session where the students can present their work.

Lecturers

• Ariel Amir (Harvard): Statistical mechanics approaches for studying microbial growth [Videos] [IntroductionLangevinFokkerPlanck, Slides1, Slides2, Slides3]
• Stephan Grill (TU Dresden): 1D active matter and guided mechanochemical pattern formation [Videos] (first few minutes of 3rd lecture missing)
• David Nelson (Harvard): Spatial population genetics [Videos] [Slides1, Slides2, Slides3]
• Julien Tailleur (CNRS, Université Paris-Diderot): Motility-induced phase separation and pattern formation [Videos] [IntroductionLangevinFokkerPlanck, Slides1, Notes1]
• Gašper Tkačik (IST Austria): Information theory and optimality in biological networks [Videos]

Seminar speakers

• Karen Alim (MPI for Dynamics and Self-organization, Göttingen): Fluid flows shaping morphology [Video]
• Joachim Rädler (LMU Munich): Cell migration on microstructured surfaces: From single cell to collective behavior [Video] (first few minutes missing), [Slides]
• Petra Schwille (MPI of Biochemistry, LMU Munich) Protein self-organization in cell division [Video]

Organizers

Erwin Frey and Chase Broedersz

Schedule

Participants

Group Picture

Restaurants close to the ASC

Application

Please send a short email to asc_school@physik.lmu.de indicating your affiliation, full name and professional status (postdoc, PhD student, master student, ...) before September 9, 2019. There is no fee but you will have to arrange your trip and accommodation yourself. You can find a list of hostels and hotels close to the ASC here. Note that the school takes place just after the Oktoberfest and during a week with a trade fair in Munich. Thus, please book your accommodation early. Moreover, the school will end on Friday at 3pm. 

If you are interested in presenting a poster, please let us know by sending an email to the school account given above.

Venue

Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics
Theresienstr. 37
80333 München

Lecture hall: B051

This is downtown Munich and it is reachable by underground (take line U3 or U6 to stop Universität or line U2 to stop Theresienstraße) and by tram (take line 27 to stop Pinakotheken).