Sarah A. M. Loos

about me

I lead the research group “Statistical Physics Beyond Equilibrium” at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen, Germany, as a Lise-Meitner Group Leader (W2). From 2022 to 2025, I was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at DAMTP, University of Cambridge with Mike Cates, and a Research Fellow of Corpus Christi College. I completed my PhD in 2020 with Sabine Klapp at TU Berlin, followed by postdoctoral work at Leipzig University with Klaus Kroy and at ICTP in Trieste with Édgar Roldán.
My research explores how the concepts of statistical physics extend to nonequilibrium systems.
☞ Loos Group at MPI-DS
☞ Full CV

final theses

Doctoral Thesis | Stochastic systems with time delay - probabilistic and thermodynamic descriptions of non-Markovian processes far from equilibrium: at TU Berlin, March 2020, Reviewers: Sabine Klapp and Klaus Kroy, summa cum laude ("with highest honors")
Master Thesis | Noise effects on chimera states in the Stuart-Landau model: Prof. Dr. Eckehard Schöll, at TU Berlin, March 2015

else

If I don't do physics, I also like being in the nature, climbing, arts, literature.

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publications

☞ GoogleScholar
☞ ResearchGate

selected publications

S. Monter, S. A. M. Loos, C. Bechinger. Optimal transitions between nonequilibrium steady states. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122, e2510654122 (2025). PNAS
R. Garcia-Millan*, J. Schüttler*, M. E. Cates, S. A. M. Loos. Optimal closed-loop control of active particles and a minimal information engine. Physical Review Letters 135, 088301 (2025). APS PRL
S. A. M. Loos, S. Monter, F. Ginot, C. Bechinger. Universal symmetry of optimal control at the microscale. Physical Review X 14, 021032 (2024). APS PRX
D. Venturelli*, S. A. M. Loos*, B. Walter*, É. Roldán, A. Gambassi. Stochastic Thermodynamics of a Probe in a Fluctuating Correlated Field. EPL (Europhysics Letters) 146, 27001 (2024). IOP
T. Suchanek, K. Kroy, S. A. M. Loos. Irreversible mesoscale fluctuations herald the emergence of dynamical phases. Physical Review Letters 131, 258302 (2023). APS PRL
S. A. M. Loos, S. H. L. Klapp, T. Martynec. Long-range order and directional defect propagation in the nonreciprocal XY model with vision-cone interactions. Physical Review Letters 130, 198301 (2023). APS PRL
V. Holubec, D. Geiss, S. A. M. Loos, K. Kroy, F. Cichos. Finite-size scaling at the edge of disorder in a time-delay Vicsek model. Physical Review Letters 127, 258001 (2021). APS PRL
S. A. M. Loos, S. H. L. Klapp. Irreversibility, heat and information flows induced by non-reciprocal interactions. New Journal of Physics 22, 123051 (2020). IOP

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awards & grants

Early Career Award Statistical Mechanics & Thermodynamics Group, Royal Society of Chemistry (2024), rsc.org
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship 24 months of funding to work at University of Cambridge, UK (2023-2025)
DFG Walter-Benjamin Postdoctoral Fellowship 24 months of funding to work at University of Cambridge, UK (2022-2023)
SKM Dissertation Prize German Physical Society (2021), dpg-physik.de
Springer Thesis Award Dissertation Prize by Springer Nature (2021), springer.com
Carl Ramsauer Prize Physikalische Gesellschaft zu Berlin (2020), pgzb.tu-berlin.de
Physik-Studienpreis Physikalische Gesellschaft zu Berlin (2016), pgzb.tu-berlin.de
Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes Scholarship during Master studies (2013–2015)
Grants for study abroad 6-month research stay at Duke University, NC, USA, group of Joshua Socolar (2013-2014)

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news

August 2025: Started my research group at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany.
October 2025: Selected as Fellow at the Max Planck School Matter to Life.
May–June 2026: Invited research stay at Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, USA.