Surajit Sen

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Surajit Sen (born November 28, 1960 in Calcutta (modern name Kolkata) in India) is a physicist who works on theoretical and computational problems in non-equilibrium statistical physics and in nonlinear dynamics of many body systems. He holds a Ph.D in physics from The University of Georgia (1990) where he studied with M. Howard Lee. He is also interested in applying physics to study problems of relevance in a societal context. He is a professor of physics at the State University of New York, Buffalo. [1] Much of Sen's recent work can be found in his RUSA lecture at Bharatidasan University. [2]

Sen is credited with developing an exact solution for the Heisenberg equation of motion in a quantum mechanical many body system in 1991. [3] His studies include work on how solitary waves travel in alignments of elastic beads, [4] on how they interact with one another and how these systems [5] [6] [7] tend to reach an equilibrium-like state where equipartitioning of energy is not respected, which he called the quasi-equilibrium state. [8] Suggestion of a similar state was made soon thereafter by Berges et al. [9] Recently, Neyenhuis et al [10] may have found some experimental evidence of this quasi-equilibrium/prethermalization state. Sen's Steel Institute colloquium at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, captures some of his work on strongly nonlinear systems - https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/physics/research/non-linear-dynamics-statistical-physics.html.

Recently, his group has also shown how the energy equipartitioned state may in fact be realized in these systems. [11] In 1997, he investigated the possible use of sound bursts in detecting buried small landmines. [12] [13] [14] In 2001, he introduced the tapered granular chain impact dispersion system, [15] which has since been extensively probed. [16] [17] [18] [19] Sen has recently suggested that nonlinear systems may be used to extract mechanical energy from noisy environments and make them into useful energy. [20] Sen's group has used cellular automata based simulations to model land battles between an insurgent army and an intelligent army [21] and used molecular dynamics based simulations to examine the social structure of chimpanzee colonies. [22] He has also been active in modeling partisan elections. [23]

Sen was elected as a Fellow [24] of the American Physical Society [25] in 2008, [26] for the discovery of how solitary waves break and secondary solitary waves form in granular media, for his leadership in organizing forums to represent and recognize the physicists from India and for raising consciousness about the problems and the importance of rural science education in India and the developing world. He was also elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012 [27] for pioneering research on solitary waves and their collisions in granular media and for sustained outstanding service and leadership in international physics. [28]

In 2020-2021 he served as a Senior Science Advisor at the United States Agency for International Development while on leave as a Jefferson Science Fellow of the US National Academies. His work is summarized in a JSF Distinguished Lecture presented at the US National Academies https://vimeo.com/566681948. More recently, Sen served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Biosciences and Bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, India, where one of his focus areas have been desert ecosystems.

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References

  1. ↑ "Welcome to the University at Buffalo - University at Buffalo". www.buffalo.edu. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  2. ↑ About Sand, Nonlinear Dynamics and Metamaterials. www.youtube.com. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  3. ↑ Sen, Surajit (1 October 1991). "Exact solution of the Heisenberg equation of motion for the surface spin in a semi-infinite S=1/2 XY chain at infinite temperatures". Physical Review B. 44 (14): 7444–7450. Bibcode:1991PhRvB..44.7444S. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.44.7444. PMID   9998658.
  4. ↑ Sen, Surajit; Manciu, Marian; Wright, James D. (1 February 1998). "Solitonlike pulses in perturbed and driven Hertzian chains and their possible applications in detecting buried impurities". Physical Review E. 57 (2): 2386–2397. Bibcode:1998PhRvE..57.2386S. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.57.2386.
  5. ↑ Manciu, Marian; Sen, Surajit; Hurd, Alan J. (27 December 2000). "Crossing of identical solitary waves in a chain of elastic beads". Physical Review E. 63 (1): 016614. Bibcode:2000PhRvE..63a6614M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.63.016614. PMID   11304385.
  6. ↑ Manciu, Felicia S.; Sen, Surajit (30 July 2002). "Secondary solitary wave formation in systems with generalized Hertz interactions". Physical Review E. 66 (1): 016616. Bibcode:2002PhRvE..66a6616M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.66.016616. PMID   12241509. S2CID   7772700.
  7. ↑ "Physicists detect the undetectable: 'baby' solitary waves" . Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  8. ↑ Sen, Surajit; Krishna Mohan, T. R.; M.M. Pfannes, Jan (15 October 2004). "The quasi-equilibrium phase in nonlinear 1D systems". Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications. Proceedings of the VIII Latin American Workshop on Nonlinear Phenomena. 342 (1): 336–343. Bibcode:2004PhyA..342..336S. doi:10.1016/j.physa.2004.04.092.
  9. ↑ Berges, J.; Borsányi, Sz.; Wetterich, C. (28 September 2004). "Prethermalization". Physical Review Letters. 93 (14): 142002. arXiv: hep-ph/0403234 . Bibcode:2004PhRvL..93n2002B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.142002. PMID   15524783.
  10. ↑ Neyenhuis, Brian; Zhang, Jiehang; Hess, Paul W.; Smith, Jacob; Lee, Aaron C.; Richerme, Phil; Gong, Zhe-Xuan; Gorshkov, Alexey V.; Monroe, Christopher (1 August 2017). "Observation of prethermalization in long-range interacting spin chains". Science Advances. 3 (8): e1700672. arXiv: 1608.00681 . Bibcode:2017SciA....3E0672N. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1700672. ISSN   2375-2548. PMC   5573308 . PMID   28875166.
  11. ↑ Przedborski, Michelle; Sen, Surajit; Harroun, Thad A. (6 March 2017). "Fluctuations in Hertz chains at equilibrium". Physical Review E. 95 (3): 032903. arXiv: 1605.08970 . Bibcode:2017PhRvE..95c2903P. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.95.032903. PMID   28415183. S2CID   35302728.
  12. ↑ US 6418081,Sen, Surajit&Naughton, Michael J.,"System for detection of buried objects",published Jul 9, 2002
  13. ↑ "UB RESEARCHERS HOPE SHOCKING WORK LEADS TO WAY TO SOUND OUT LAND MINES". The Buffalo News. 7 December 1997. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  14. ↑ Sen, Surajit; Manciu, Marian; Sinkovits, Robert S.; Hurd, Alan J. (1 January 2001). "Nonlinear acoustics in granular assemblies". Granular Matter. 3 (1–2): 33–39. doi:10.1007/s100350000067. ISSN   1434-5021. S2CID   59062982.
  15. ↑ Sen, Surajit; Manciu, Felicia S.; Manciu, Marian (15 October 2001). "Thermalizing an impulse". Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications. 299 (3): 551–558. Bibcode:2001PhyA..299..551S. doi:10.1016/S0378-4371(01)00340-5.
  16. ↑ Rosas, Alexandre; Lindenberg, Katja (31 March 2004). "Pulse velocity in a granular chain". Physical Review E. 69 (3): 037601. arXiv: cond-mat/0309070 . Bibcode:2004PhRvE..69c7601R. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.69.037601. PMID   15089450. S2CID   38733538.
  17. ↑ Nakagawa, Masami; Agui, Juan H.; Wu, David T.; Extramiana, David Vivanco (1 February 2003). "Impulse dispersion in a tapered granular chain". Granular Matter. 4 (4): 167–174. doi:10.1007/s10035-002-0119-1. ISSN   1434-5021. S2CID   120729013.
  18. ↑ Doney, Robert L.; Agui, Juan H.; Sen, Surajit (15 September 2009). "Energy partitioning and impulse dispersion in the decorated, tapered, strongly nonlinear granular alignment: A system with many potential applications". Journal of Applied Physics. 106 (6): 064905–064905–13. Bibcode:2009JAP...106f4905D. doi:10.1063/1.3190485. ISSN   0021-8979.
  19. ↑ Harbola, Upendra; Rosas, Alexandre; Romero, Aldo H.; Lindenberg, Katja (26 July 2010). "Pulse propagation in randomly decorated chains". Physical Review E. 82 (1): 011306. Bibcode:2010PhRvE..82a1306H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.82.011306. PMID   20866610.
  20. ↑ "Research Outlines Math Framework That Could Help Convert 'Junk' Energy Into Useful Power | NSF - National Science Foundation". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  21. ↑ Westley, Alexandra; De Meglio, Nicholas; Hager, Rebecca; Mok, Jorge Wu; Shanahan, Linda; Sen, Surajit (23 March 2017). "Study of simple land battles using agent-based modeling: Strategy and emergent phenomena". International Journal of Modern Physics B. 31 (10): 1742002. Bibcode:2017IJMPB..3142002W. doi:10.1142/S0217979217420024. ISSN   0217-9792.
  22. ↑ Westley, Matthew; Sen, Surajit; Sinha, Anindya (7 May 2014). Nature's Longest Threads. WORLD SCIENTIFIC. pp. 81–102. doi:10.1142/9789814612470_0009. ISBN   9789814612463.
  23. ↑ Tiwari, Mukesh, Xiguang Yang, and Surajit Sen. "Modeling the nonlinear effects of opinion kinematics in elections: A simple Ising model with random field based study." Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 582 (2021): 126287.
  24. ↑ "APS Fellowship". www.aps.org. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  25. ↑ "APS Fellow Archive". www.aps.org. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  26. ↑ "APS Fellows 2008". www.aps.org. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  27. ↑ "AAAS Members Elected as Fellows". AAAS - The World's Largest General Scientific Society. 30 November 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  28. ↑ Science, American Association for the Advancement of (30 November 2012). "AAAS News and Notes". Science. 338 (6111): 1166–1171. doi: 10.1126/science.338.6111.1166 . ISSN   0036-8075.
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