Madan Rao 
Associate Professor 
Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics

I have been working in the broad area of Statistical Mechanics and Condensed Matter Physics, especially focussing on Nonequilibrium Phenomena and Soft Condensed Matter Physics. More recently my interests have moved into areas in Cell Biology. I hold an Adjunct Faculty Position at the National Centre for Biological Sciences where we have started an exciting program on Physics in Biology. I am also a Visiting Scientist in the Center for Condensed Matter Theory at the neighbouring Indian Institute of Science.

I append my Publication List (not the most updated version !) for those who might be interested in knowing some of my research interests.

I'm sorry about the number of links that lead to nowhere, but this should change soon. 

Colleagues at RRI

  • Abhishek Dhar
  • Yashodhan Hatwalne
  • V. A. Raghunathan 

    • Colleagues elsewhere

  • Satyajit Mayor (NCBS, Bangalore)
  • G. V. Shivashankar (NCBS, Bangalore) (adjunct faculty at RRI)
  • Sriram Ramaswamy (IISc, Bangalore)
  • Surajit Sengupta (SNBNCBS, Kolkata)
  • P. B. Sunil Kumar (IIT, Chennai)

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    Students : Past and Present

  • Jayajit Das was working on the nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of driven, diffusive Heisenberg spins and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Virginia Polytechnic
  • Sarasij R. C.is working on trafficking and mechanisms of endocytosis in eukaryotic cells
  • Sudipto Muhuri  is currently working on the elasticity and dynamics of DNA and DNA-Histone complexes
  • Azam Gholami  is currently working on problems in DNA-Histone complexes and active processes in biology

    • Current Research Interests

    Hard Matter (Material Science)

  • Martensites
  • Brittility and Ductility

    • Soft Matter (Complex Fluids)

  • Single Component Lipid Membranes : Equilibrium Shapes, Shape Transitions
  • Two-Component Lipid Membranes : Equilibrium Shapes and Dynamics

    • Physics in Biology

  • Endocytic Sorting in Eukaryotic Cells
  • Structure of Rafts
  • Active Membranes : Pumps, Fission/Fusion, Flip/Flop
  • Elasticity and Dynamics of DNA

    • Dynamics Far From Equilibrium

  • Phase Ordering of Isotropic Magnets with Torque
  • Driven Magnets --- Steady States with Broken Symmetry and Goldstone Modes
  • Approach to Equilibrium in Many Body systems --- Chaos

    • Other Interests

  • Skyrmions in Quantum Hall Systems : Crystal

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    Courses Offered

  • Statistical Mechanics
  • Equilibrium Physics of Soft Matter
  • Statistical Mechanics of Membranes

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    Some useful and some links of interest

  • Author status enquiry of APS journals.
  • Tom Witten's Preprint List on Polymer Physics.
  • Future Programs at ITP, Santa Barbara.
  • University of Chicago's Materials Center.
  • Future Programs at ICTP, Trieste.
  • Les Houches Summer Schools .
  • A Link to the Biophysical Society .