Mathematics Colloquia and Seminars

Return to Colloquia & Seminar listing

Description

Whereas Hamiltonian dynamics (be it described by Newton's or Schrödinger's equation) is time-reversible, most phenomena in our macroscopic world are clearly irreversible. On the level of theoretical phyiscs, this dichotomy between micro and macro is well-understood since the work of Boltzmann. However, the mathematical questions it raises, remain largely unsolved. Despite progress in the field of dynamical systems and quantum field theory, there are still only a few systems in which we can prove that irreversible behaviour like return to equilibrium, diffusion, friction, actually occur. I will present an overview and some recent progress.