• Speaker: Prof. Juan M.R. Parrondo (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain)
• Date: Tuesday 16 August, 2022
• Time: 16:00 – 17:00 HRS
• Venue: EAIFR, top floor (Former “KIST2” Building of the Univ. of Rwanda in Nyarugenge) and Online

Consider two games: A and B such that "ff you play game A, you are guaranteed to lose. If you play game B, you are guaranteed to lose." However, "if you alternate back and forth between playing game A and game B, you are guaranteed to win." Mysterious? This is "Parrondo's Paradox"; it has applications in investment (financial risks), biology, and others, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrondo%27s_paradox#Applications


Title: Paradoxical Games and Brownian Motors
Abstract: Two losing gambling games result in a winning game when played in an alternating sequence. This is the formulation of the so-called paradoxical games. In this talk, I will review this paradox by presenting the original formulation and its relationship with Brownian ratchets, simple systems based on asymmetric potentials that are able to rectify fluctuations and have been used as models for nanomotors and molecular motors in biology. 

Zoom Meeting ID: 869 3793 5728 Passcode: 549989
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86937935728?pwd=V1J5ak43bk5JZkZhY3RSdkNwOER3UT09

Short bio:  Juan M.R. Parrondo is Professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. His research focuses on the foundations of statistical mechanics and  on stochastic processes applied to statistical physics, condensed matter and biophysics. He has been invited researcher in the Max Planck Institute of Complex Systems, Lund Uiversity,  UC  San Diego, Stanford University, and UC Berkeley. He is the author of the counterintuitive Parrondo's Paradox and has made influential contributions to the fields of stochastic and quantum thermodynamics, the thermodynamics of information, and on fundamental problems of statistical mechanics, like the Maxwell demon and the origin of irreversibility.

Download the poster (PDF)