Martin Cramer Pedersen receives Villum Experiment Grant
Active matter systems such as cells, bacteria, and living organisms are characterized by the continuous injection or conversion of energy by its constituents. Such systems are not in thermodynamic equilibrium and inevitably exhibit the emergence of intricate structure and dynamics, often in the form of concerted motion, complex phase transitions, and unusual emergent properties.
Methods from topological data analysis have been successful in improving our understanding of an wide array of systems in physics and chemistry. This grant will allow Martin and his collaborators to deploy topological data analysis in the context of understanding data from experiments, simulations, and theories describing active matter systems as well as their structure and dynamics. Topological data analysis is particularly promising in this context due to its ability to resolve and quantify structure in topologically complex data and samples, which is exactly what is needed to address current challenges in active matter.