Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas 163 | Nigel Goldenfeld on Phase Transitions, Criticality, and Biology
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Sep 6, 2021 Nigel Goldenfeld, a Chancellor's Distinguished Professor in Physics at UC San Diego, delves into the fascinating world of phase transitions and their implications across various systems. He discusses how simple physical models can illuminate complex biological phenomena, from evolutionary dynamics to genetic codes. The conversation navigates through topics like scale-free behavior, the significance of non-equilibrium transitions in fluid dynamics, and the interplay of ecological systems, all while highlighting the universal laws connecting physics and biology.
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Phase Transitions as Cooperative Phenomena
- Physicists use Ising models to represent phase transitions, like spins on a lattice.
- These spins interact locally, yet demonstrate global cooperation below a certain temperature.
Energy-Entropy Interplay
- Phase transitions involve interplay between energy minimization and entropy.
- Higher temperatures favor entropy (disorder), while lower temperatures favor energy minimization (order).
Emergence of Order and Discrepancies
- At phase transitions, the emergence of order can be abrupt, like in liquid-gas transitions, or gradual, like in magnets.
- The discrepancy between theoretical predictions and experimental results in gradual transitions led to a revolution in physics.
