Geilo School 2013

The main theme of the "Geilo School" will be "Soft Matter Confinement: From Biology to Physics" with subthemes: A. Complex fluids, microfluidics and interfaces B. Non-Gaussian fluctuations in small systems C. Confinement effects on phase behavior of sof t matter systems, biologically inspired problems D. Confinement in biophysics, physical principles As material systems are made smaller approaching the nanoscale, changes occur which may affect properties. The number of atoms close to surfaces increases relative to the numbers that are truly in the bulk. At the same time, thermodynamics is no longer controlled by the laws of large numbers, so dynamical fluctuations often cannot be viewed as Gaussian. Liquids flowing through narrow tubes ("microfluidics/n anofluidics") exhibit laminar flow and do not mix in the same way as fluids in macroscopic containers. In many complex fluids the relative importance of various forces depends on system size so that in biological cells, for example, dissipative forces do minate inertial forces. These and other distinctions between the properties of truly macroscopic systems and those whose spatial dimensions are constrained will be explored at this School, with special emphasis on effects which occur in soft matter, where thermal and cohesive forces are of similar magnitude. Topics will cover both experiments and theory. In addition to about 40 hours of invited lectures and seminars, there will be tutorials and discussions. The invited lecturers are requested to stay th e full duration of the School to interact with the students. Participants are also encouraged to submit abstracts for a poster session. The motivation for this Geilo School is to bring together researchers with various interests and background to identi fy and discuss areas where synergism between various disciplines may be most fruitfully applied to the study of Soft Matter Confinement