Andrea Baldassarri

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Researcher

keywords: Non-equilibrium dynamics; Stochastic processes; Percolation theory; Fractal geometries; Geomorphology; Coastal dynamics;
Andrea Baldassarri studied in Sapienza University of Rome and he got his PhD at the University of Paris Sud (Orsay) with a thesis on the Statistics of persistent extreme events. His interests in non-equilibrium statistical physics and complex systems drove him to study several problems related to granular matter, slow dynamics and aging in spin glass models, etching and corrosion processes in aluminum films, erosion of rocky coasts, fractal geomorphology of planets. Such a collection of diverse topics, has been addressed focusing on the emergence of collective phenomena, in the framework of universal statistics of extremes, percolation theory, self-organization.

 

Research interest

I’m interested in non-equilibrium physics, in particular the possibility to understand and characterize dissipative dynamics from statistical analysis of noisy and fluctuating measures. I considered the case of “crackling-noise”, i.e. bursty signals that can be described as a sequence of avalanches, typical in  many physical phenomena (earthquakes, friction, etc.). A measure of interest has been introduced to this aim: the average shape of the avalanche (or average fluctuation shape).

Crackling noise

From the theoretical point of view, I’m trying to leverage on the theory of stochastic processes, to compute analytically the shape for simple models (e.g. ABBM/CIR/Bessel process) in order to connect measurable features (as the asymmetry) with quantity of interest in stochastic thermodynamics (e.g. entropy production, dissipation, work and heat exchanges)

Data analysis from experimental measures, for instance irregular stick-slip dynamics in granular friction, can be compared with paradigmatic models for non equilibrium dynamics, as the Brownian Gyrator, recently introduced as an example of “heat engine at the nanoscale”.

The Brownian Gyrator, and its possible non-linear extensions, provide an ideal framework to develop and check ideas and techniques, at the crossing between non equilibrium dynamics, stochastic thermodynamics and control theory.