Events Archive

Oct
01
2012
Physics of the Piano
Why does a piano sound like a piano? A similar question can be asked of virtually all musical instruments. A particular note, such as middle C, can be produced by a piano, a violin, and a clarinet.  Yet, it is easy for even a musically untrained listener to distinguish between these instruments.  One would like to understand why the sound of the “same” note depends greatly on the instrument.  In particular, we would like to understand what aspects of the piano are most critical in...
Sep
27
2012
Exploring novel quantum few- and many-body physics by quantum simulation
Recent cold atom researches are reaching out far beyond the realm that was conventionally viewed as atomic physics. Many long standing issues in other...
Sep
24
2012
Packing & Assembling Polyhedra: New directions in colloidal matter
Entropy can order shapes into complex structures, even in the absence of explicit attractive forces. As such, shape is important in the self assembly and crystallization of colloids, nanoparticles, proteins and viruses, and in the packing of granular matter.  Using computer simulations of nearly 200 different hard polyhedra, including families of tetrahedra, we demonstrate the emergence of entropic bonds and show how simple measures of building block shape and local order in fluid phases can predict crystals and quasicrystals, liquid crystals, rotator crystals, and glasses.  From these findings, we propose design rules for entropically patchy particles.
Sep
20
2012
Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Directed Cell Motility
Sep
20
2012
Balloons: Vehicle for space research at moderate cost
For many investigations like astronomical observations in various electromagnetic windows, atmospheric and high altitude research, it is necessary to reach the top of the atmosphere. Balloons have been used as a carrier for a long time. The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research has conducted regular balloon flights for over 60 years and operates the National Balloon Facility in Hyderabad. This facility has been used by Indian and international groups for a variety of investigations. Balloons provide a cost effective means for space research by a small group of scientists. I will talk about the adventures of ballooning with special reference to the flights conducted by TIFR. I will show...
Sep
20
2012
Attosecond transient absorption in strong-field controlled atoms
Coherent manipulation of atoms by strong electromagnetic radiation can be used to engineer new optical properties of matter. The technique of using a strong control field to manipulate the transmission of a weak probe field, such as it is done in Autler-Townes splitting, has recently been extended to control the transmission of x rays.
Sep
19
2012
The Onset of Turbulence in Pipe Flow
 PLEASE NOTE: This is a WEBINAR More than 125 years ago Osborne Reynolds launched the quantitative study of turbulent transition as he sought to understand the conditions under which fluid flowing through a pipe would be laminar or turbulent. Since laminar and turbulent flow have vastly different drag laws, this question is as important now as it was in Reynolds' day.  Reynolds understood how one should define ``the real critical value'' for the fluid velocity beyond...
Sep
17
2012
Scalable Technologies for Quantum Computing with Trapped Atomic Ions
Sep
14
2012
Protons and cancer therapy
Curative cancer treatment requires radiotherapy (RT) in almost 2/3rd of all cases. Unfortunately, children are highly susceptible to the development of debilitating toxicities and secondary malignancies from RT. Normal tissue sparing with hadron-beam therapy is being actively investigated to reduce RT side-effects. The objective of this talk is to describe conventional and novel normal tissue-sparing applications of photon and proton beam therapy, respectively; radiobiological interplay with the tumor microenvironment will also be discussed.
Sep
10
2012
Spin Electronics: Magnetic Moments and Amorphous Semiconductors
  Spin electronics in its broadest definition is the study of systems where both the charge and the spin of the electron play a role.  The term was originally intended as a new technological concept, where traditionally the electron’s charge is important because transistors rely on currents and voltages, while the electron’s spin is important only in magnetic materials used for memory; spin electronics represents a new hybrid system.  Examples range from technological developments such as MRAM (magnetic random access memory) that are based on magnetic tunnel junctions, to some forms...

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