Ramanujan Auditorium

From fireflies to power grids: The physics of spontaneous synchronization

Shamik Gupta

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Crickets singing in synchrony, fireflies blinking in unison, audience clapping in unison, power grids operating at a common frequency with generator and motor shafts rotating in phase, and last, but foremost, pacemaker cells syncing up to send out
electrical signals and generating regular heart beats are all examples of the fascinating phenomenon of spontaneous synchronization. In this talk, I will summarize how a physicist studies such an emergent collective behavior using tools of nonlinear dynamics
and statistical physics.