Department of Theore1cal Physics Faculty Members Type to enter text Mustansir Barma Welcome to the Department of Theore1cal Physics at TIFR, Mumbai. Rajeev Bhalerao We are interested in the theore1cal descrip1on of our universe over Kedar Damle a huge energy range, from fundamental Planck scale of 1028 eV in Basudeb Dasgupta - string theory to ultra-low energy scales of 10 13 eV in cold atomic gases Saumen DaKa and everything in between. The research ac1vity in the department has Deepak Dhar four broad focus areas: condensed maKer and sta1s1cal physics, Amol Dighe cosmology and astro-par1cle physics, high energy physics, string theory Rajiv Gavai and mathema1cal physics. Our research interests overlap across these Sourendu Gupta areas. Rishi Khatri 2014-02-19Subhabrata Majumdar 19:13:33 1/1 Unnamed Doc (#1) Gautam Mandal We try to find new laws of nature as well as novel manifesta1ons of Nilmani Mathur known laws. We try to find exact solu1ons, and develop approxima1ons Shiraz Minwalla as well as numerical techniques to understand the complex Sreerup Raychaudhuri phenomena occurring in the universe. For a peek into this fascina1ng Tuhin Roy world, keep reading ..... and visit our website at Rajdeep Sensarma Rishi Sharma www.theory.1fr.res.in K. Sridhar Department of Theore1cal Physics, Vikram Tripathi Tata Ins1tute of Fundamental Research Sandip Trivedi Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba Mumbai 400005 More is different -- P. W. Anderson Condensed MaKer and Sta1s1cal Physics Welcome to the theore1cal condensed We aKempt to extend the use of maKer and sta1s1cal physics group in sta1s1cal physics model to other the department. We have two broad disciplines to build models of stock focus areas: applica1on of classical sta1s1cal mechanics models to diverse markets, biological growth and physical phenomena , and explana1on protein folding etc. Non-equilibrium of the emergent proper1es of strongly models of aggrega1on and chipping interac1ng quantum many-body have been studied to model systems. A Pattern produced molecular transport in cells. by Eulerian walkers A system of many interac1ng par1cles can exhibit qualita1vely different behavior from a single or a few par1cles. Interac1ons can lead to emergent phenomena like magne1sm, superconduc1vity or superfluidity etc. where the behavior of the system changes suddenly as parameters like temperature or magne1c field are varied. Condensed maKer theory provides the tools to understand the sta1c and dynamic proper1es of these systems. If the interac1ons between the par1cles are stronger than their kine1c energy,the theore1cal descrip1on becomes immensely complicated. For high temperature superconductors, the well known pillars of solid state physics like band theory, Fermi liquid theory and BCS theory of superconduc1vity, all fail and we have to search for new This simple picture of a compe11on between kine1c and interac1on Some topics we work on: energies is complicated by the presence of frustra1on, which leads to degeneracies in the system. We are interested in understanding • Realis1c models of the glassy state with broken ergodicity. how these systems explore the phase space. • Equilibrium (solid-fluid) and non-equilibrium (jamming) phase transi1ons in systems with hard core repulsion. • Propor1onate growth in animals, protein- folding, global climate as non equilibrium steady state of periodically driven systems. • Agent based models of markets and opinion formaon. Spin orbit coupling • Physics of high Tc superconductors. Magne1c response of MoK insulators with in cold atoms • interes1ng magne1c proper1es. Effect of spin and charge impuri1es on spin Materials in the laboratory inevitably have a lot of dirt and we study • liquids and topological insulators. the effects of spin and charge impuri1es on the proper1es of novel • Detailed phenomenology of diluted magne1c states like quantum spin liquids and topological insulators and its semiconductors and granular superconductors connec1on with the well known Kondo effect in metals. • Phenomenology of graphene and related materials. We also study the proper1es of ultracold atomic gases, where • Search for novel equilibrium and non- models relevant to other condensed maKer system can be designed equilibrium states with ultracold atomic gases. with easily tunable parameters. In these systems, we also study • Development of techniques to understand non-equilibrium dynamics of strongly interac1ng quantum real 1me response of strongly interac1ng systems. many-body systems, a field which has opened up in recent years. Members: Mustansir Barma Deepak Dhar Kedar Damle Rajdeep Sensarma Vikram Tripathi Cosmology and Astropar1cle Physics Cosmological research has entered its golden age. Long abounding in theories but lacking enough data, over the last quarter century it has entered the realm of ‘precision science’. The area has seen emergence of the so called ’Standard Cosmological Model’, where the structure, evolu1on and nature of the universe and all its contents are beau1fully described by few parameters which are now being determined with increasing precision. And yet, the more we unravel, the more mysteries we find - the mystery of dark maKer and dark energy, the paradigm of infla1on, the violent explosions and energe1cs, the mind-boggling large structures and the onset and end of the dark ages in our universe. Even knowledge of our own Milky Way has to be embedded in our knowledge of the cosmos. Cosmology is an area of science that assimilates ideas from all branches of physics – for example, general theory of rela1vity, which tells us how the universe grows in size or how light is lensed by maKer, quantum field theory in the early universe, nuclear physics describing how different elements came into being, plasma physics and fluid mechanics, which governs the interac1on of photons and maKer, to Newtonian gravity which determines local dynamics in galaxies and cluster of galaxies. The field is also unique in the connec1on it makes between the very large and the very small – for example, one way to search for the invisible dark maKer that cons1tutes roughly one quarter of our universe is to do par1cle physics experiments like those at the LHC. In fact, there are massive surveys some of which are taking place now and some are being planned to start in the future, like Planck, DES, EUCLID, LSST, SKA, etc with aim of understanding our universe. Cosmology and Astropar1cle Physics is the newest sub-area of research in the department and is poised for rapid growth. Its present members include Subhabrata Majumdar and Rishi Khatri, who work on both theore1cal and observa1onal cosmology. Sandip Trivedi is interested in cosmology from perspec1ve of string theory. Amol Dighe and Basudeb Dasgupta are interested in astropar1cle physics: the implica1ons of the standard model of par1cle physics for astronomical systems. The main research areas in CAP are mo1vated by the vision which tries to address the following big ques1ons • What are dark maKer and dark energy? • What causes cosmic infla1on ? • What goes on inside galaxies? • When did the universe end its dark ages and how? The(space(density(of(clusters(with(redshi7( • How has the universe evolved over 1me? • What are the signatures of early universe physics Cosmology(with(clusters( that can be probed? • What role does neutrinos play in our universe? Some specific topics that are of current interest are: •The informa1on hidden in the spectral distor1ons of the cosmic microwave background • Es1ma1ng the parameters of the standard model of cosmology by combining probes of cosmic microwave background (CMB), supernovae (SNe) , baryon acous1c oscilla1ons (BAO) and galaxy clusters. •Involvement in surveys to probe dark maKer and dark energy. The data from these surveys are also used to understand the growth of structures seeded by ini1al perturba1ons on a smooth universe due to Infla1on. Thus connec1ons are made between the very early and late universe. The large scale structure that one finds from the survey data can also be used to look for devia1ons from Einstein’s theory of gravity. •Topics at the interface of string theory and cosmology include cosmological string compac1fica1ons and the role of AdS/CFT in understanding the resolu1on of cosmological singulari1es. • Since visible maKer trace the dark universe, considerable effort is given to study the synergies between cosmology and visible traces, their physics, energe1cs, structure and evolu1on. These can be connected to studies of the distor1on of the CMB at small scales. •Topics in astro-par1cle physics including neutrino mass constraints from cosmological surveys and the role of neutrinos in the spectacular supernova explosion, baryogenesis and nucleosynthesis. Members: Basudeb Dasgupta Members: Amol Dighe Subhabrata Majumdar Sandip TrivediAmol Dighe Rishi Khatri Subhabrata Majumdar Sandip Trivedi High Energy Physics Par1cle physics is the study of the basic structure of maKer using the language of rela1vis1c quantum field theories. These theories then predict exo1c par1cles and their proper1es, the outcomes of a variety of high-energy collider experiments such as at the LHC, the RHIC and the FAIR, as well as of high-energy cosmic phenomena such as in supernovae, neutron stars and the hot environment of the early universe. The building of models, as well as explora1on of their implica1ons are pursued in the department. The interac1ons of various kinds of maKer are organized by the symmetry of the interac1on. The standard model of par1cle physics combines the strong with the