Physics for Biology WS23/24

Abstract: The lecture 'Physics for Biology' comprises a short introduction to modern concepts of statistical physics, as used in biological physics, as well as an introduction to the theory of nonlinear dynamical systems. Geometric concepts are emphasized, as well as important model systems and application examples illustrated in programming exercises (Python).
Lecture topics include: Thermodynamic potentials, Landau theory of phase transitions, dynamical systems as fluxes in phase space, fixed points and their stability, bifurcation analysis, oscillators.

Scope: lecture: 2 hours/week; tutorials: 2 hours/ 2 weeks

Time:

Lecture every Tuesday 11:10am (3. DS)

Tutorial every second Tuesday 1pm (4. DS - biweekly in odd weeks starting 10.10.)

Location: Biotec E05/E06

Audience: Master students 'Physics of Life'; Bachelor and Master Physics students; students from the CMCB-Master 'NanoBioPhysics'; Master students from the 'Computational Modeling and Simulation' course

Specialization area: Soft Condensed Matter and Biological Physics

Previous knowledge: Multi-variate calculus, Thermodynamics and/or first course in Statistical Mechanics

Lectures:
Benjamin Friedrich (TU Dresden)

Tutorial:
Kartik Chhajed (MPI PKS)