COLLOQUIUM EHRENFESTII 2026

initiated by Paul Ehrenfest in 1912
currently organized by Subodh Patil (read about its history)


Dinner participants: 32 | Follow the live stream

Derrida

Bernard Derrida

College de France

November 11

7:30 p.m.

CM 1.26

Large deviations in non-equilibrium systems

Over the last 30 years the study of large deviations has become a central aspect in the theory of non-equilibrium systems. They give a generalization of the concept of free energy for non-equilibrium systems. They also give a way to generalize the fluctuation dissipation theorem and to give a probablistic understanding of the Second Law. A number of methods have been developed to calculate these large deviations, in particular a field theory called the Macroscopic Fluctuation Theory which has become the main tool to determine these large deviations for non-equilibrium systems.

The Colloquium Ehrenfestii takes place Wednesday evenings starting at 19:30 hours in the Gorlaeus building, lecture hall CM 1.26 (first floor, near main entrance on Einsteinweg 55). Before the Colloquium, there is a common dinner in the Beta Café (far end of the first floor, see map). This dinner starts at 18:00 hours sharp and is free of charge, under the condition that one attends the colloquium and that one has made a reservation before noon on the Tuesday preceding the colloquium.

We count on your presence if you register, please do show up. Meal registrations may close earlier, when 80 persons have signed up.

Colloquium Ehrenfestii Program 2026

14 Jan

Eran Sharon (Hebrew University, Israel)

Non-Euclidean Sheets - From Growing Leaves to Self-Morphing Architecture and to Locomotion

15 Apr

Roberto Car (Princeton University, USA)

Studies of the ferroelectric phase transition in the age of artificial intelligence

27 May

Emanuela Del Gado (Georgetown University, USA)

Connected matter: the architectures of soft materials.

23 Sep

Tomaž Prosen (University of Ljubljana)

Quantum Chaos Without a Classical Correspondence

14 Oct

Vijay Balasubramanian (U. Penn USA)

How the brain makes you

11 Nov

Bernard Derrida (College de France)

Large deviations in non-equilibrium systems

02 Dec

Mariangeles Serrano Moral (University of Barcelona)

Renormalization of Complex Networks: From Multiscale Self-Similarity to Zero-Shot GNN Transfer

Search the CE archive or explore the past programs

The search form accepts only one keyword and no special characters are allowed.