Third year

What group are you in?
Randeria Group

Kolkata, India

The phenomenon of superconductivity fascinates me. One might ask what’s new in that as people have been studying it since 1911.  New platforms like flat band and topological superconductors present a host of new possibilities. In flat band materials like twisted bilayer graphene, kinetic energy of electrons is almost entirely quenched, and the physics is dominated by interactions, giving rise to a plethora of exotic quantum phases of matter including superconductivity. On the other hand, topological superconductors can host charge neutral Majorana zero modes which can be used to do quantum computation. As a theorist I try to understand these new platforms and phases of matter and predict new outcomes.

I haven’t yet done anything to be proud of. Recently we have come up with a connection between pairing symmetry, which is one of the most fundamental characterizations of a superconductor, and the topological properties that it might have. This mathematical connection might help us learn about the pairing symmetry when some topological property is observed in an experiment. I also feel rather good about the work that I did for my masters’ thesis where we showed how an impurity inside a “quantum droplet” of a Bose-Einstein condensate would form a bound state.

I am a music enthusiast and have been part of an organization that promoted Indian classical music among young people by hosting concerts by eminent musicians which students could attend for free. It was overwhelming to see how people developed keen interest and deep love for this genre once they were exposed to it. For some of these people it has even been a life changing experience. I am proud to have been a part of something that had such a positive influence on people.

Really long-term goal would be to contribute to some meaningful research. A decent short-term goal would be to graduate. Everything else lies in between!

What year are you in?

I am in my 3rd year.

What group are you in?

Prof. Samir Mathur

Where are you from?

I am originally from the Pink City of India—Jaipur.

Describe your research in 200 words or fewer.

In the 1970s Hawking revealed that near a black hole’s event horizon, tiny particles constantly appear and disappear. Occasionally, one particle from the pair falls into the black hole, while the other escapes, carrying energy away from the black hole, called Hawking radiation, and it slowly causes black holes to shrink and vanish. Black holes act as information sinks. When objects enter a black hole, their unique characteristics vanish forever. Although Hawking radiation is emitted from the black hole’s horizon, it cannot preserve information about the objects inside. Moreover, we must consider the source of a black hole’s entropy and identify its microstates in the context of Boltzmannian theory.

String theory, particularly the work of Strominger and Vafa, began shedding light on black hole microstates, offering a breakthrough in our understanding. Professor Samir Mathur introduced the concept of “fuzzballs,” which are distinct from classical black holes as they lack a horizon. Fuzzballs release information about their internal structure as they cool down, akin to how coal releases fumes as it burns. Fuzzballs from outside can be modeled as extremely compact objects(ECOs). These are objects with radius closely approaching the size of a black hole. My research aims to understand the thermodynamics of these ECOs and answer why horizonless fuzzballs obey thermodynamics of classical black holes. In our recent work, conducted in April 2023, we focused on this problem. Our work provided compelling evidence that any Extremely Compact Object (ECO)—an entity with a radius in close proximity to that of a black hole—shares identical thermodynamic properties to that of a black hole. Our findings gained recognition when we received the 3rd prize in the prestigious 2023 Gravity Research competition.

We also study fuzzballs using something known as the D1D5P CFT system. In this system, not all states contribute to the entropy. But there is a way known as lifting to classify these states. States that remain unlifted under this contribute to the crucial index. The leading-order behavior of this index aligns with classical Bekenstein-Hawking black hole entropy calculations. So to correctly understand the entropy of black holes in the fuzzball program, one must naturally ask: Which states within the theory undergo lifting, and to what extent? The pursuit of this query forms the other aspect of my research. Finally, I am also working on another facet of fuzzballs. We conjecture that there are virtual fluctuations of the vacuum in the form of fuzzballs called VECROs(Virtual Extended Compression Resistant Objects) and these affect the expansion of the universe. We propose these virtual excitations as a candidate for dark energy. 

What have you done in physics that you are proud of?

I am proud of our Gravity Research Essay that won us the 3rd prize this year. I’m also proud of my Youtube channel: Time before Space, where I communicate interesting concepts in physics and interviews with contemporary physicists working around the globe. Apart from this, I have also helped many young students and got them into Physics.  It’s a great feeling to inspire students.

What have you done outside of physics that you are proud of?

I went to the Kaun Banega Crorepati (an iconic quiz show on TV in India) in my 10th grade. I’ve won the third prize in the Camlin national level painting competition back in India and I’m proud of that as well. 

What are your future goals?

My goals in my research would be to come up with an algorithm to construct super-descendant algebras. I’d also like to work on topological solitons and construct models of dark energy using VECROs. Career-wise, I want to get into academia – teaching physics in a better way and igniting young minds. I’d like to recall one of Albert Einstein’s quotes: “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” I wish to change that for my students. Finally, if everything works out, my goal would be to win a Nobel prize…

What year are you in?

I am in my 2nd year.

What group are you in?

Prof. Nandini Trivedi’s group. 

Where are you from?

I am originally from Kolkata, India.

Describe your research in 200 words or fewer.

I am working on multiple projects currently. Firstly, I’m working on quantum spin liquids which involve frustrated magnetism in different materials. It has important implications to topological quantum computation. My other project (with Prof. Nandini Trivedi) is on thermal transport and quantum noise. We are trying to use the quantum noise in the system to get information about the system. My final project is on understanding SYK models with a random interaction strength that has a non-zero mean. 

What have you done in physics that you are proud of?

Our work on the relation between random matrix models and the SYK model was recently accepted to the Journal of High Energy Physics.  This work is very close to my heart and I had spent almost a year on running the numerical simulations. Earlier, it was conjectured that the random matrix model and the SYK model have a one-to-one correspondence. We showed that the correspondence is not too obvious and there is a huge class of unexplored theories between these two sets of models . 

What have you done outside of physics that you are proud of?

Recently, I have been proud of my reading habits. I am very much into Murakami’s books, particularly Men without Women. I haven’t read novels in English before this. My other favorites are Sputnik Sweetheart and Farewell in Arms. I am currently reading Norwegian Woods and I want to read Kafka on the shore next. 

What are your future goals?

I would like to complete my PhD within five years. I want to fully understand what the hell I’m doing. In the long term, I would like to pursue a Postdoctoral position or become an industry professional.

What year are you in?

I am in my fifth year.

What group are you in?

Prof. Chris Hammel’s group.

Where are you from?

I am originally from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Describe your research in 200 words or fewer.

Understanding the magnetic properties and dynamics of novel materials is essential for further applications in high-density information storage. My research in the Hammel Group involves studying these properties through use of cantilever magnetometry and optical detection of magnetic dynamics via NV color centers.

Cantilever magnetometry consists of attaching a micron-sized magnetic sample to a cantilever’s free end, which is then used as a harmonic oscillator. In the presence of an external field, the sample’s magnetic moment will exert a torque in the cantilever. Sweeping the external field then results in a frequency shift from which hysteretic behaviors and magnetic properties can be studied.

Optical detection of magnetic dynamics is done using photoluminescent diamond defects called NV centers, which are sensitive to magnetic fields. Alternating fields from the sample at resonance with the NV centers will cause a decrease in the measured photoluminescence. By placing NV centers at a sample’s surface and exciting magnetic dynamics, this change in photoluminescence can be used to study and understand magnetic dynamics in novel magnetic materials.

What have you done in physics that you are proud of?

Having the opportunity to pursue a PhD at OSU and passing candidacy made me feel very proud. All the work I did in undergrad made sense once I started my graduate studies. Similarly, I was going through all the classes and homework in the first two years, and passing the candidacy exam seemed a concrete proof of progress.

What have you done outside of physics that you are proud of?

For various reasons, I lived at home during my undergraduate years, so right now is my first time living independently away from my family. Living alone for the first time is tough, especially when it is a ~6-hour plane flight from home. But I am proud of my personal growth these last few years, which could only be gained by living independently.

What are your future goals?

Definitely graduating. Also, if the paper we are working on right now results in a publication, that would be amazing!!

What year are you in?
I am in my 4th year.

What group are you in?
Prof. Chris Hirata’s group.

Where are you from?
I am originally from Sichuan, China.

Describe your research in 200 words or fewer.
The evolution of the Universe following the Big Bang is determined by several factors such as the initial distribution of matter, the percentages of dark energy, dark matter and normal matter that compose the Universe. The model that parameterizes these factors and can surprisingly well describe the large- scale structure and evolution of Universe we observe today is called the standard cosmological model, also known as ΛCDM model. Cosmologists have made a lot of efforts to make accurate measurements and various tests of this model from different aspects, including building more powerful telescopes in remote areas and even in space, developing more advanced statistical methods to dig valuable
information from the tremendous amount of observational data, and theoretically proposing new cosmological probes or forecasting the prospects of certain experiments. My work lies in the theoretical side of this spectrum, in particular I have worked on simulating realistic images of Roman Telescope to study its weak lensing measurement systematic errors, which helps the community understand the performance of this future telescope. I have also studied the impact of relative velocity between dark matter and baryonic matter on the baryon acoustic oscillation 21cm signal, which helps sharpen our cosmological ruler when measure distance in the Universe.

What have you done in physics that you are proud of?
I feel the first first-author research paper is a milestone.

What have you done outside of physics that you are proud of?
I can cook authentic tasty Chinese food.

What are your future goals?
I’d strive to be a physicist who is capable of doing research independently as well as collaboratively and could explore my individual research interests out of pure curiosity as well as make contribution to the science community.