At IFUNAM, theoretical and experimental research is carried out on topics related to the statistical physics of systems inside and outside of thermodynamic equilibrium. The structure and dynamics of complex fluids and soft systems, such as colloidal systems, gels or monolayers, are studied by rheology and micro-rheology, among other methods. Other topics of interest are the theory of stochastic hydrodynamics and its applications, as well as such as the glass transition and its relationship with the theory of stiffness. Research is also carried out on extensions of statistical physics on the threshold of chaos and the theory of critical self-organization.
Another field of interest is active matter, in particular the diffusion of self-propelled particles and collective motion, which are studied theoretically, in simulations and in experiments with micro-fluidic arrangements. Theoretical studies on diffusion problems, random walks, search processes and statistics of first arrival times are also carried out. Other research is devoted to the study of stochastic processes with long-range memory, with applications to the description of animal movement and human mobility. Investigations are also carried out in random matrix theory, statistics of large deviations and Coulomb gases.
