The developments of nanofabrication in the past years have enabled the design of electronic systems that exhibit spectacular signatures of quantum coherence. Nanofabricated quantum wires and dots containing a small number of electrons are ideal experimental playgrounds for probing electron-electron interactions and their interplay with disorder. Going down to even smaller scales, molecules such as carbon nanotubes, fullerenes or hydrogen molecules can now be inserted in nanocircuits. Measurements of transport through a single chain of atoms have been performed as well. Much progress has also been made in the design and fabrication of superconducting and hybrid nanostructures, be they normal/superconductor or ferromagnetic/superconductor. Quantum coherence is then no longer that of individual electronic states, but rather that of a superconducting wavefunction of a macroscopic number of Cooper pairs condensed in the same quantum mechanical state. Beyond the study of linear response regime, the physics of non-equilibrium transport (including non-linear transport, rectification of a high frequency electric field as well as shot noise) has received much attention, with significant experimental and theoretical insights. All these quantities exhibit very specific signatures of the quantum nature of transport, which cannot be obtained from basic conductance measurements. Basic concepts and analytical tools needed to understand this new physics are presented in a series of theoretical fundamental courses, in parallel with more phenomenological ones where physics is discussed in a less formal way and illustrated by many experiments.· Electron-electron interactions in one-dimensional quantum transport· Coulomb Blockade and Kondo physics in quantum dots· Out of equilibrium noise and quantum transport· Andreev reflection and subgap nonlinear transport in hybrid N/S nanosructures.· Transport through atomic contacts · Solid state Q-bits · Written by leading experts in the field, both theorists and experimentalists

Dynamos is a collection of lectures given in July 2007 at the Les Houches Summer School on "Dynamos". - Provides a pedagogical introduction to topics in Dynamos - Addresses each topic from the basis to the most recent developments - Covers the lectures by internationally-renowned and leading experts

From molecular motors to bacteria, from crawling cells to large animals, active entities are found at all scales in the biological world. Active matter encompasses systems whose individual constituents irreversibly dissipate energy to exert self-propelling forces on their environment. Over the past twenty years, scientists have managed to engineer synthetic active particles in the lab, paving the way towards smart active materials. This book gathers a pedagogical set of lecture notes that cover topics in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and active matter. These lecture notes stem from the first summer school on Active Matter delivered at the Les Houches school of Physics. The lectures covered four main research directions: collective behaviours in active-matter systems, passive and active colloidal systems, biophysics and active matter, and nonequilibrium statistical physics--from passive to active.

This book is dedicated to the multiple aspects, that is, biological, physical and computational of DNA and RNA molecules. These molecules, central to vital processes, have been experimentally studied by molecular biologists for five decades since the discovery of the structure of DNA by Watson and Crick in 1953. Recent progresses (e.g. use of DNA chips, manipulations at the single molecule level, availability of huge genomic databases...) have revealed an imperious need for theoretical modelling. Further progresses will clearly not be possible without an integrated understanding of all DNA and RNA aspects and studies. The book is intended to be a desktop reference for advanced graduate students or young researchers willing to acquire a broad interdisciplinary understanding of the multiple aspects of DNA and RNA. It is divided in three main sections: The first section comprises an introduction to biochemistry and biology of nucleic acids. The structure and function of DNA are reviewed in R. Lavery's chapter. The next contribution, by V. Fritsch and E. Westhof, concentrates on the folding properties of RNA molecules. The cellular processes involving these molecules are reviewed by J. Kadonaga, with special emphasis on the regulation of transcription. These chapters does not require any preliminary knowledge in the field (except that of elementary biology and chemistry). The second section covers the biophysics of DNA and RNA, starting with basics in polymer physics in the contribution by R. Khokhlov. A large space is then devoted to the presentation of recent experimental and theoretical progresses in the field of single molecule studies. T. Strick's contribution presents a detailed description of the various micro-manipulation techniques, and reviews recent experiments on the interactions between DNA and proteins (helicases, topoisomerases, ...). The theoretical modeling of single molecules is presented by J. Marko, with a special attention paid to the elastic and topological properties of DNA. Finally, advances in the understanding of electrophoresis, a technique of crucial importance in everyday molecular biology, are exposed in T. Duke's contribution. The third section presents provides an overview of the main computational approaches to integrate, analyse and simulate molecular and genetic networks. First, J. van Helden introduces a series of statistical and computational methods allowing the identification of short nucleic fragments putatively involved in the regulation of gene expression from sets of promoter sequences controlling co-expressed genes. Next, the chapter by Samsonova et al. connects this issue of transcriptional regulation with that of the control of cell differentiation and pattern formation during embryonic development. Finally, H. de Jong and D. Thieffry review a series of mathematical approaches to model the dynamical behaviour of complex genetic regulatory networks. This contribution includes brief descriptions and references to successful applications of these approaches, including the work of B. Novak, on the dynamical modelling of cell cycle in different model organisms, from yeast to mammals. . Provides a comprehensive overview of the structure and function of DNA and RNA at the interface between physics, biology and information science.

This book is a collection of lectures given in August 2006 at the Les Houches Summer School on "Particle Physics and Cosmology: the Fabric of Spacetime. It provides a pedagogical introduction to the various aspects of both particle physics beyond the Standard Model and Cosmology of the Early Universe, covering each topic from the basics to the most recent developments.· Provides a pedagogical introduction to topics at the interface of particle physics and cosmology· Addresses each topic from the basis to the most recent developments· Provides necessary tools to build new theoretical models addressing various issues both in cosmology and particle physics· Covers the lectures by internationally-renowned and leading experts· Faces the predictions of theoretical models against collider experimental data as well as from cosmological observations

The physics of non-equilibrium many-body systems is one of the most rapidly expanding areas of theoretical physics. Traditionally used in the study of laser physics and superconducting kinetics, these techniques have more recently found applications in the study of dynamics of cold atomic gases, mesoscopic and nano-mechanical systems. The book gives a self-contained presentation of the modern functional approach to non-equilibrium field-theoretical methods. They are applied to examples ranging from biophysics to the kinetics of superfluids and superconductors. Its step-by-step treatment gives particular emphasis to the pedagogical aspects, making it ideal as a reference for advanced graduate students and researchers in condensed matter physics.

Intensive research on fullerenes, nanoparticles, and quantum dots in the 1990s led to interest in nanotubes and nanowires in subsequent years. Handbook of Nanophysics: Nanotubes and Nanowires focuses on the fundamental physics and latest applications of these important nanoscale materials and structures. Each peer-reviewed chapter contains a broad-