【Seminar】"Axisymmetric membranes under external force: buckling, minimal surfaces, and tethers" by Prof. Thomas Powers

Speaker: Prof. Thomas Powers from Brown University

Title: Axisymmetric membranes under external force: buckling, minimal surfaces, and tethers

【Seminar】Dr. Joseph Samuel: The Geometric Phase and the Spin-Statistics Theorem: spinning particles as ribbons

【qBio Seminar】"Decoding behavior with minimal and interpretable agent models" by Prof. Antonio Celani

Speaker: Prof. Antonio Celani from The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics ICTP

Title: Decoding behavior with minimal and interpretable agent models

Coffee/Tea & Cookies will be served before the seminar at 15:00 - 15:30.

"Decoding behavior: optimization and inference of decision-making processes" by Prof. Antonio Celani

Professor Antonio Celani is Head and Senior Research Scientist at The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics ICTP

"Table-top Experiments Inspired by Geophysical Phenomena" by Prof. Jun Zhang from NYU & NYU-Shanghai

Prof. Jun Zhang, graduated and received his BS degree from Wuhan University in China, and earned his Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. After a postdoctoral experience in biophysics at Rockefeller University, he came to NYU and started building the Applied Math Lab at the Courant Institute and later he became a faculty member (physics and math) there. His research interest has been in the field of physics of fluids and complex systems, which includes biomechanics or bio-locomotion (organismal swimming and flying), geophysical fluids (thermal convection, continental dynamics, and erosion), solid-on-solid friction, urban heat-island effect, and self-organization phenomena at many different scales.

 

Seminar: "Exploration of the Mpemba effect: an anomalous heat relaxation process" by Prof. Hisao Hayakawa

Prof. Hisao Hayakawa from Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University

Seminar: “On the Absence of the Ultimate Regime in Turbulent Thermal Convection” by Prof. Mahendra Verma

Speaker: Prof. Mahendra Verma, Dept of Physics & Kotak School of Sustainability, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India

Seminar: “Annealing Amorphous Solids using Oscillatory Shear and Active Dopants and Memory Formation” by Prof. Smarajit Karmakar

Speaker: Prof. Smarajit Karmakar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India

Seminar: “Biotremologist dreaming to be an insect: A brief introduction to a hidden world of vibrational communication” by Dr. Meta Virant-Doberlet

Speaker: Dr. Meta Virant-Doberlet, Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, National Institute of Biology, Ljubljana, Slovenia

[Seminar] An introduction to self-similarity of the first and second kind

Speaker: Dr. Shreyas Mandre

University Associate Professor of Fluid-Structure Interaction, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge

Hosted by: Professor Mahesh Bandi, Nonlinear and Non-equilibrium Physics Unit

When physical processes repeat over either growing or shrinking scales (length and/or time), the dynamics shows self-similarity. The condition of self-similarity appears strict, but it is the building block of mathematical modelling. This lecture covers (i) concept of scale invariance as a pre-requisite for self-similarity, (ii) self-similarity in physical systems and mathematical models, (iii) the two kinds of self-similarity -- the first and second kinds, and (iv) a simple mathematical example to elucidate the second kind of self-similarity. The lecture presents examples from fluid dynamics. No previous knowledge of or experience with scale-invariance or self-similarity is assumed.