IMSC

Gautam I. Menon 

Gautam I. Menon
 

The Institute of Mathematical Sciences,
C.I.T. Campus, Taramani
Chennai 600 113, INDIA

Tel +91-44-2254 3266 
Fax +91-44-2254 1586 

ICTP WORKSHOP (Apr '06)

INTERFACE OF LIFE (Jan '08)

MOLECULAR MOTORS, TRACKS AND TRANSPORT (Jan '10)

WORKSHOP AND CONFERENCE ON INFECTIOUS DISEASES (Sep '10)

WORKSHOP ON ACADEMIC ETHICS (July '11)

My research applies methods from statistical mechanics to problems in condensed matter physics and biophysics.

Much of my work has been in the field of type-II superconductivity, including theoretical approches to problems such as flux-lattice melting, vortex glass structure and correlations, the peak effect, dynamical states in driven disordered flux-line arrays, the surface melting of the flux lattice and models for data from muon-spin rotation experiments.

Some results: the first direct observation of the vortex glass phase (PRL '04), the resolution of a puzzle in muon-spin rotation experiments on flux-line systems (PRL '06), the theory of the surface melting of the vortex lattice (PRL, '06, PRB, '07), a thermodynamically consistent theory for flux-lattice melting (PRB, '07, and earlier work) and modeling the classic problem of peak effect anomalies in type-II superconductors (PRB-RC,'07,PRB,'10).

Older work includes a proposal for a universal phase diagram for weakly disordered superconductors (PRB, '02, MPLB '01, Physica '01, Phase Transitions '02), the observation of reentrant melting of vortex lines (PRL, '96), a theory of correlations in disordered fluids and the melting of the disordered flux-lattice (PRL, '94), the theory of muon-spin-rotation experiments in disordered superconductors (PRB, '98) and the development of density functional approaches to flux-lattice melting (PRL, '91, PRB, '96).

My current work centres around the phase behaviour of disordered superconductors, relating theoretical models and their predictions to experimental data (PRB, '12), the use of muon-spin-rotation methods to study novel vortex glass phases (PRL '13) and driven disordered periodic media.

I've also been interested in several problems across soft condensed matter, biological physics and statistical mechanics. Some work: the modeling of double stranded DNA with bubbles (PRL, '05, Biophys J '13), active membranes (PRE, '02, EPJE, '09), motor microtubule mixtures (PRE, '04), sheared colloids (PRE,'09), liquid crystal statics and dynamics (PRE '08, PRE '08, PRE '09, JCP '09,JCP '10, Chaos '10) and polymer rings (PRE '08, J. Stat. Phys '08, JSM '10, EPJE '12).

Some of my papers are archived.

The theoretical description of soft and biological matter (active matter) far from thermal equilibrium is central to my current research. Several current collaborations try to better understand active intracellular transport (mechanisms and regulation of axonal transport of cargo vesicles and mitochondria) and the mechanical properties of cellular matter from a theoretical perspective, as in Biophys J '13. A specific recent interest is the organization of chromatin, forces driving chromosome territory formation and descriptions of nuclear mechanics.

For interested students: IMSc is starting a new Computational Biology program this year (2013). For more about biology research at IMSc, see Biology at IMSc

Career

  • Ph.D, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India (1994) 
  • Visiting Fellow, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India (1994-96) 
  • Post-doctoral Fellow/Sessional Instructor, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada (1996-98) 
  • Fellow, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India (1998-2003) 
  • Reader, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India (2003-2006) 
  • Associate, Indian Academy of Sciences, India (1996-2001) 
  • DST Fast Track Fellowship (2002)
  • Swarnajayanti Fellowship (2005)
  • Professor, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India (2006-) 
  • DAE-SRC Outstanding Research Investigator (2010-) 
  • APS Outstanding Referee (2011) 
  • Visiting Professor, NUS Singapore (Oct, 2011 - April, 2013 ) 
  • Professor H, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India (2012-) 

Seminars and Invited Talks