Postdoctoral Researcher - Dissipation Potentials in Zürich

100%, Zurich, fixed-term

A postdoctoral position is available as of now in the Polymer Physics Group of Prof. Hans Christian Öttinger at ETH Zurich for an experienced candidate to pursue research on dissipation potentials.

The role of dissipation potentials in nonequilibrium statistical thermodynamics.

Dissipation potentials can be used to describe the irreversible contribution to dynamics in nonequilibrium thermodynamics [1]. The statistical background for dissipation potentials and the underlying theory of fluctuations have been reviewed and elaborated in [2,3]. We would like to explore the usefulness of dissipation potentials in a number of different directions, for example,

• fluctuation enhancement of equations for interfaces,
• quantization of dissipative systems via functional integrals,
• semigroup character of coarse graining,
• relation to thermodynamics of small systems,
• microbead rheology in complex flows.

References

1. M. Grmela and H.C. Öttinger, Dynamics and thermodynamics of complex fluids. I. Development of a General Formalism, Phys. Rev. B56 (1997) 6620-6632.
2. H.C. Öttinger, M. Peletier and A. Montefusco, A framework of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. I. Role and types of fluctuations, J. Non-Equilib. Thermodyn. 46 (2021) 1-13 (open access).
3. A. Montefusco, M. Peletier and H.C. Öttinger, A framework of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. II. Coarse-graining, J. Non-Equilib. Thermodyn. 46 (2021) 15-33 (open access).

The starting date of this position is as soon as possible, the ending date is 31 January 2023.

We are looking for experienced candidates, preferably with a PhD in physics.

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