R Mike L Evans

Associate Professor

Department of Applied Mathematics

Complex Materials and Industrial Mathematics (CMIM) research group coordinator

University of Leeds
Woodhouse Lane
Leeds
LS2 9JT
U.K.

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The Universe is a beautiful and fascinating puzzle. I am lucky enough to get paid for trying to explain how it works, and to model it mathematically. More about my work on non-equilibrium statistical mechanics can be found here and I discussed why it's fundamental here. An introduction to rheology (the flow-properties of fluids) and some of my work on that area can be found here. My publications are listed here.

My Christmas 2022 public lecture for the Institute of Physics (Yorkshire branch) can be view on YouTube at https://youtu.be/l8k6PeSjKY0

Research projects available:

PhD project for a suitable candidate:
Evolutionary game theory of scarce resources

For Leeds Maths students, I am have the following short research projects available:

For MATH5003/4:
Modelling animal movement
The XY model: An idealized model of magnets and non-Newtonian fluids

For MATH3001:
Using random numbers to solve mathematics and physics problems


PhD projects I currently supervise:

Organisation of particles on curved surfaces (co-supervised by Dr Paul Clegg)
PhD student Jason Klebes

Statistical physics of biological evolution (co-supervised by Dr Sandro Azaele & Dr Mauro Mobilia)
PhD student Leonardo Miele

Microrheology of microscopically phase separated hydrogels (co-supervised with Dr Johan Mattsson)
PhD student Adam O'Connell


Lectures

My current lecture courses are:

MATH2365 Vector Calculus
MATH3424 Introduction to Entropy in the Physical World
MATH5452M Advanced Entropy in the Physical World


Public Understanding of Science

As well as publishing in academic journals, I enjoy writing about all aspects of science, and giving public talks about my work and other developments in applied mathematics and theoretical physics.

You can hear my Christmas public lecture for the Yorkshire branch of the Institute of Physics here:
"Jingle bells & Bijels: miniature universes"

In my blog PhysicsBloke.blogspot.com I talk about the elegant and awe-inspiring workings of nature, about my research, science and education policy, and more personal and whimsical views of physics and applied maths. I try to convince the readers that they don’t need to be Albert Einstein to understand the answers. I believe that no topic is too advanced to be explained in an entertaining way. So my articles are aimed at everyone. Curiosity is the only qualification that my readers need.

http://www.physicsbloke.com/2012/05/lord-kelvins-thunderstorm.html

In a similar vein, I have written for the Institute of Physics and for BBC Sky At Night Magazine, where my series of feature articles, "The Big Questions", tackled the enduring questions about the universe. More details here.

Selected Publications

(For a full list, click here.)

"Pay-off scarcity causes evolution of risk-aversion and extreme altruism",
R M L Evans,
Sci. Rep 8:16074 (2018)
Open access: www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-34384-w
(See news story.)

Absence of dissipation in trajectory ensembles biased by currents
Robert L Jack and R M L Evans
Accepted for publication in Journal of Statistical Mechanics:Theory and Experiment (JSTAT).
arXiv:1602.03815

Cassical XY model with conserved angular momentum is an archetypal non-Newtonian fluid
R M L Evans, Craig A Hall, R Aditi Simha and Tom S Welsh,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 138301 (2015).

Numerical comparison of a constrained path ensemble and a driven quasisteady state
Miloš Knežević and R M L Evans,
Phys. Rev. E 89, 012132 (2014).
Open access preprint: arXiv:1310.4384 [cond-mat.stat-mech]

The effects of polydispersity and metastability on crystal growth kinetics
J J Williamson and R M L Evans,
Soft Matter, Advance Article (2013).
Open access preprint at
arxiv.org/abs/1208.3804

Spinodal fractionation in a polydisperse square-well fluid
J J Williamson and R M L Evans,
Phys. Rev. E 86, 011405 (2012).

Direct conversion of rheological compliance measurements into storage and loss moduli
R M L Evans, Manlio Tassieri, Dietmar Auhl, and Thomas A. Waigh,
Phys. Rev. E 80, 012501 (2009).

Invariant quantities in shear flow
A Baule and R M L Evans,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 240601 (2008).

Dynamics of Semiflexible Polymer Solutions in the Highly Entangled Regime
Manlio Tassieri, R. M. L. Evans, Lucian Barbu-Tudoran, G. Nasir Khaname, John Trinick, and Tom A. Waigh,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 198301 (2008).

Rules for transition rates in nonequilibrium steady states ,
R M L Evans,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 150601 (2004).

Universal law of fractionation for slightly polydisperse systems
R M L Evans, D J Fairhurst and W C K Poon,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1326-1329 (1998).

Colloid-polymer mixtures at triple coexistence: Kinetic maps from free-energy landscapes,
W C K Poon, F Renth, R M L Evans, D J Fairhurst, M E Cates and P N Pusey,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 1239-1242 (1999).

Correlation length by measuring empty space in simulated aggregates,
R M L Evans and M D Haw,
Europhys. Lett. 60(3), 404-410 (2002).

Role of metastable states in phase ordering dynamics,
R M L Evans, W C K Poon and M E Cates,
Europhys. Lett. 38, 595-600 (1997).

My PhD thesis:

A theoretical study of orientational order in liquid crystal vesicles,
R. M. L. Evans,
University of Manchester Thesis (1995).

For a full list of publications, click here.