Theoretical Sciences Unit Seminar

JNCASR
Kanada Auditorium

Theoretical Sciences Unit Seminar on 27th May 2022 (Friday).

Title:  Emergent electromagnetism in Jammed granular solids

Speaker: Prof. Subhro Bhattacharjee

Affiliation:  ICTS, Bangalore

Date and Time:  27th May 2022 (Friday) Time: 11:00 AM Tea/Coffee: 10:45 AM

Venue: Kanada Auditorium, JNCASR

Abstract:

Emergence of low energy degrees of freedom is a recurrent theme in  condensed matter systems. In more familiar systems such as crystalline  solids the emergence of phonons as collective modes of vibration are  associated mainly with broken translational symmetry that governs the  physics at low temperatures. However, in a wide class of systems, local  energetic constraints may take the form of Gauss's law giving rise to an  emergent electromagnetism at low energies. In this talk, I shall show  that local conditions of mechanical equilibrium in granular solids have  the mathematical structure of a generalized Gauss's law for a rank-2 U(1)  electromagnetism. The electrostatic limit of this tensor electromagnetism  successfully captures the anisotropic "elasticity" of granular solids and  provides a new framework to understand a large class of such systems.

Prof. Srikanth Sastry