Non-equilibrium Physics and Its Interdisciplinary Applications
A special issue of Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300). This special issue belongs to the section "Statistical Physics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2024 | Viewed by 55
Special Issue Editors
Interests: complex systems; networks; non-equilibrium physics; sociophysics; econophysics
Interests: complex systems; non-equilibrium physics; networks; biophysics; math modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
No real-world (e.g., natural, social, engineering) system is strictly in equilibrium. The implication of this is that well-known (e.g., maximization/minimization) principles governing systems in equilibrium are not appropriate to describe the dynamics of real-world systems and could, at most, approximate some near-equilibrium systems subject to small or slow perturbations. And yet that is how physics is taught and often pursued, because it is cleaner and frankly significantly easier. While purposely isolated laboratory systems may approximate the equilibrium, the real world—and all its problems, from online dangers to disease development/spreading, turbulent flows, market crashes and wars—cannot. In fact, all these collective effects are inherently transient, somehow appearing from out of nowhere and often displaying patterns akin to (non-equilibrium) dynamical phase transitions. But when and how?
To answer these questions, significant advancement in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics is necessary that revises concepts, theories and techniques so that they account for real-world features such as, but not limited to, heterogeneity, adaptability, high-order correlations/interactions, time-varying populations, irreversibility, and resiliency against internal failures, as well as external interactions. Indeed, such advances need to be guided and supported by large-scale empirical data from systems across various domains.
The good news is that high-frequency (though still imperfect) data from social media, diseases, financial markets, climate, conflicts and wars, etc., are more available than before and it hence allows us to explore this complex world of non-equilibrium. These applications are also crucially important for society. This Special Issue confronts this situation by presenting a set of selected papers that address such problems within the framework of non-equilibrium physics and statistical mechanics. The goal is to generate not only new insights into these real-world problems, but also to push forward this relatively new field of physics.
We welcome your contributions!
Dr. Neil Johnson
Dr. Pedro D. Manrique
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Entropy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- non-equilibrium
- real-world systems
- irreversible processes
- kinetic theory
- stochastic modeling
- turbulence
- pattern formation
- nonlinear dynamics
- agent-based models
- emerging phenomena
- information theory
- entropy production
- collective phenomena
- complex systems
- active matter
- self-organization
- data-driven modeling
- biological systems
- dynamical phase transitions
