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Gautam I. Menon
The Institute of Mathematical
Sciences, Tel +91-44-2254 3266 Fax +91-44-2254 1586 MOLECULAR MOTORS, TRACKS AND TRANSPORT (Jan '10) |
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).
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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
Seminars and Invited Talks |