Research

Current research interests

My research interests are in the areas of soft condensed matter physics and interdisciplinary physics. Some of my research effort also relates to basic physics and is tied to the material I teach in various courses. Given below is a brief overview of my recent work.

Information thermodynamics: We have recently been working on implementation of efficient transfer of information to free energy in model systems. In particular, we have been looking at a simplified version of the Maxwell refrigerator proposed by Mandal et al. and trying to study the optimal power transfer. We have also been working on understanding the information to free energy conversion in experimental systems involving colloidal particles by studies employing Brownian dynamics and molecular dynamics simulations. (arXiv 2008.02505, to be published in Phy. Rev. E (2021))

Depinning and peak effect in 2D crystals in the presence of periodic pinning: We have observed the peak effect phenomenon that is normally seen driven systems in the presence of disorder, in a much more cleaner system of periodic pins. We explain the apparent paradoxial behvior of enhanced resistance to flow of the vortex lattice close to the melting point by the presence of increased average barrier heights close to the transition. (Physica A, 556 124737 (2020))

An alternative proof for Euler rotation theorem and Chasles’ theorem in rigid body kinematics: We have given an alternative geometric proof for these important theorems in classical mechanics. The proof is elementary and makes use of makes use of two successive rotations
about two mutually perpendicular axis to go from one configuration of the rigid body to the other with one of its points fixed. The proof should be accessible to undergraduate students. (Mathematical Intelligencer, 42, 44-49 (2020))

Ant trail shapes in the presence of linear edges: We have successfully modelled the edge following and corner cutting behavior of ant trails using a simple mathematical model. (‘When to cut corners and when not to’, Mathematical Intelligencer, 36, (2014)). We have now extended this work by carrying out an agent based model that captures the individual level ant behavior to explain the dynamics of trail formation. The microscopic model correctly predicts the refractory behavior of the trails at the intersection of two surfaces. (Manuscript under preparation, 2021)

Minimal modelling of type-1 auditory neuron spiking: We have used a combination of a nonlinear oscillator, an RC oscillator and an inhomogeneous Poisson process to model the spiking behavior of Type – 1 auditory neuron. The model qualitatively reproduces the tuning curve. (Work presented in Complex Dynamical Systems and Application conference at IIT – Guwahati, Dec – 2017)

Particle sliding on a rotating table: We have analytically and numerically studied the motion of a particle moving on a rotating table to which it is frictionally coupled. Interestingly, one can define an angle dependent escape velocity for the particle. (‘Particle sliding on a turntable in the presence of friction’, American Journal of Physics, 126 (2015))

Modelling threshold dependent activation of active transport in nuclear membrane: In collaboration with the optics experimental group in the department, we have been trying to model certain interesting behaviors seen in transport across nuclear membrane, in particular the non-monotonic variation of dextran concentration inside the nucleus as a function of time. (Work ongoing, 2021)

BITS Pilani

Research

Current research interests

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