Directions in Active Matter
Speaker
Sriram Ramaswamy, Centre for Condensed Matter Theory，Department of Physics， Indian Institute of Science
Time
2021-11-16 14:00 ~ 15:00, in 2 days (Asia/Shanghai Time)
Venue
ZOOM-APP
ZOOM Info
Link to Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87683588381?pwd=bHdCbnlEdjR6TDJwamxMaklLSTBOUT09 Meeting ID: 876 8358 8381
Passcode: 140156
Abstract
Living systems on scales from subcellular to oceanic are a special kind of condensed matter, whose constituent particles convert a sustained supply of free energy into systematic movement and function. This viewpoint has created a new frontier for nonequilibrium statistical and soft-matter physics, stimulated the creation of some amazing minimal active-matter systems, and provided insights into the mechanics of cells, tissues, and groups of organisms. My talk will introduce the subject, present key questions, and summarise recent work with my students and colleagues on phase transitions, turbulence, non-mutual interactions and information flow in active systems. I will close with some thoughts on future directions.
Bio
Sriram Ramaswamy is a professor in the department of physics of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, where he has been since 1986. Sriram completed high school at the Modern School, New Delhi, and then moved to the University of Maryland where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics with high honours in 1977. He completed his PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Chicago in 1983 and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania 1983-86.
Sriram is a theoretician with broad interests in nonequilibrium, soft-matter and biological physics. His research helped found the field of Active Matter, which studies the collective behaviour of objects, such as motile organisms, that convert local energy input into autonomous motion.
He is widely known for formulating the hydrodynamic equations governing the alignment, flow, mechanics and statistical properties of suspensions of self-propelled creatures, on scales from a cell to the ocean. Key predictions -- that macroscopically aligned flocks of swimming bacteria are impossible, and that the addition of swimmers to a fluid can make the viscosity arbitrarily small -- have been confirmed in recent experiments. His insight into nonliving imitations of self-propulsion has led to design principles for chemotactic colloids, the first experiments observing giant number fluctuations in flocks, the prediction and observation of motile strength-1/2 defects, and experiments and theory on flocks with a tiny minority of motile constituents.
From 2012 to 2016 Sriram directed the TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences in Hyderabad. Among the awards he has received for his research are the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2000) and the Infosys Prize (2011). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016.
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