LNMIIT Physics Colloquium Series
About
The LNMIIT Physics Colloquium is an online lecture series, organized by the Department of Physics, The LNMIIT, Jaipur, specifically designed for all undergraduate and postgraduate students, particularly those pursuing or having completed a B.Sc. in Physics, who are enthusiastic about exploring advanced topics in Physics and considering a future in higher studies in physics.
While many undergraduate and postgraduate students are deeply interested in cutting-edge areas of physics, they sometimes face difficulties due to gaps in foundational knowledge. They also face significant barriers in accessing or gaining a first exposure to advanced topics including current areas of research. This colloquium series aims to bridge that gap by having national/international experts talk on various topics of their interest in a structured and interactive format that makes complex topics engaging.
All sessions are designed to be interactive, providing students with the unique opportunity to directly engage with researchers/subject-matter experts. These interactions are intended to clarify doubts and guide aspiring students of physics toward their academic and professional goals.
What do you expect from this colloquium?
- Each lecture in the series is divided into three thoughtfully designed segments (mentioned below). The key takeaways for the students would be
- Introductory Discussion
A brief yet essential overview of the foundational concepts needed to appreciate the overview of the advanced topic. - Overview of advanced topics and current research directions
An engaging presentation of an advanced physics theme, aimed at sparking intellectual curiosity and encouraging deeper exploration. - Guidance Segment
Practical advice and direction for undergraduate and postgraduate students on how they can prepare themselves for research careers in physics, including study strategies and academic pathways.
- Introductory Discussion
- All these lectures would be interactive, and students can directly ask questions to researchers/subject-matter experts.
Who Can Apply?
All undergraduate and postgraduate students, particularly those pursuing or having completed a B.Sc. in Physics, who are enthusiastic about exploring advanced topics in Physics and considering a future in higher studies in physics.
Selection of the Participants
Students need to first register for the “LNMIIT Physics Colloquium”. A limited number of participants will be chosen for the colloquium on a first-come, first-served basis and will be given the opportunity to interact with the researcher/subject expert through the Microsoft Teams platform. Other students will be provided with a YouTube link to attend the same.
Upcoming lectures
Title: The Universe, Elementary Particles, and Dark Energy
Abstract: Our Universe is extremely large, with massive objects like galaxies, clusters of galaxies etc. There are exotic objects like black holes ranging from stellar masses to supermassive ones of billion solar masses. On the other extreme of sizes are elementary particles, so tiny that huge accelerators are built to study their micro properties through the collision of particles. The evolution of the Universe is understood using Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Research in this area has brought out a startling revelation, that it is not possible to study the extremely large structure of the universe without understanding the properties of elementary particles and their interactions. This talk will explain the physical basis for this surprising interconnection and the concept of Dark Energy, an exotic form of energy leading to repulsive gravity.
Speaker: Prof. Ajit M Srivastava, Rajaramanna Chair Professor at Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar.
Date: 02 Feb 2026
Time: 6:30 PM
About Speaker:
Prof. Ajit M Srivastava
Biography: Prof. Ajit M. Srivastava is the Raja Ramanna Chair Professor at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar. He obtained his B.Sc. from Allahabad University in 1981 and his M.Sc. in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1983. He completed his Ph.D. in Theoretical High Energy Physics at Syracuse University in 1989.
Prior to his long and distinguished tenure at the Institute of Physics, Professor Srivastava held prestigious research appointments at the Theoretical Physics Institute, University of Minnesota, and the Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara. His broad research interests encompass elementary particle physics, cosmology, quark–gluon plasma, and gravitational waves. He is also widely recognized for his significant contributions across these areas of theoretical physics.
Archive
Colloquium 1
Title: “An excursion into the world of quantum computing and quantum communication”
Abstract: A gentle introduction to the basic ideas of quantum computing and quantum communication will be provided, with specific attention to the current status and existing technological challenges. The historical development of the subject will be discussed briefly, and an overview of the activities happening in India will be provided. Some interesting works done by the undergraduate interns working in our group will be showcased and opportunities and challenges (both theoretical and technological) will be discussed. The talk will aim to provide a broad overview of the R&D activities in the area of quantum computing and quantum communication.
Speaker: Prof. Anirban Pathak
Date: 20th June 2025
Time: 6:30 PM
About Speaker:
Prof. Anirban Pathak
Prof. Anirban Pathak is a theoretical physicist. He did his Ph.D. from Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan. Subsequently, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin. He joined JIIT, Noida, in 2002. At present, he is actively involved in teaching and research related to several aspects of quantum optics and quantum information with a focus on quantum cryptography and photonic quantum computing. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) and a fellow of the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication (FIETE). He is also one of the editors of Quantum Information Processing, Springer-Nature and Quantum Review Letters. He is a recipient of the 2017 Shri O. P. Bhasin Award in the field of Electronics and Information Technology. He is the author of several books related to quantum mechanics and its applications: "Elements of Quantum Computation and Quantum Communication", "Optical Quantum Information and Quantum Communication", "Individuation and Nonlocality in Quantum Physics", "Lectures on Quantum Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications", etc.
Colloquium 2
Title: “Fundamentals and Frontiers of Spintronics and Spin Dynamics”
Abstract: Since its early discovery in about 600 BC, magnetism has been used to the benefit of human society starting from its use in surgery to the use of compass for navigation. Over the years magnetism has seen discovery of many fundamental phenomena and contributed many modern-day technologies in electromagnetics industry, health science and more recently in miniaturized solid-state devices including magnetic data storage and memory devices. The research in magnetization dynamics has growing interest which is driven both by fundamental quests and technological demands. Ultrafast dynamics of magnetization provide important information about the material or device properties. It also poses challenges to investigate dynamics down to femtosecond time scale with nm spatial resolution.
Here, I will present a combined approach of studying magnetization dynamics in ferromagnetic thin films, ferromagnet/nonmagnet bilayers, multilayers and patterned nanostructures using theory, experiment and numerical simulations. Important and emerging topics such as ultrafast demagnetization, spin waves, magnonics, spin Hall effect, spin pumping effect and interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction will be introduced and discussed. Novel experimental techniques such as time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect, broadband ferromagnetic resonance and Brillouin light scattering will be used to investigate the above properties and phenomena. Finally, I will demonstrate the development of a novel device based on the spin wave propagation in nanostructured ferromagnetic waveguide.
Speaker: Prof. Anjan Barman
Date: 25th July 2025
Time: 6:30 PM
About Speaker:
Prof. Anjan Barman
Biography: Dr. Anjan Barman is a Senior Professor and Dean (Faculty) at the S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata. There, he leads the ‘Spintronics and Spin Dynamics’ research group with world class laboratories equipped with indigenously built unique experimental setups. He has guided/graduated more than 100 postgraduate students and postdoctoral scientists, including 35 PhD students. He has published 276 journal papers, review articles and book chapters and two books from Springer. He has received about 9300 citations with h-index of 50. He serves as Associated Editor of ‘npj Spintronics’ and in the Editorial Board of the journals ‘Nanotechnology’, ‘Scientific Reports’ and ‘Pramana’ and. He is a recipient of Materials Research Society of India Medal, Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowship and elected Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore and Institute of Physics, UK. He serves in many important national and international committees, including Sectional Committee (Physics) of Indian Academy Sciences and as Co-Cordinator and DPR Committee Member of Quantum Materials and Devices T-Hub of National Quantum Mission.
Colloquium 3
Title: “The arrow of time and the black hole mystery”
Abstract: Why does a cup of hot tea get cold and never the other way around? This is a puzzle from the microscopic viewpoint since in the microscopic world there is no time-irreversibility, i.e. if atoms can go from configurations A to B, they also can from B to A. We normally describe the arrow of time in the macroscopic world in terms of the so-called second law of thermodynamics — but how does one understand the second law of thermodynamics from a time-reversible microscopic world? Similar puzzles exist in black hole physics: objects can fall into a black hole but never come back out. This “black hole arrow of time”, however, is much more than just a curious puzzle, because Hawking argued half a century ago how it threatens to shake the foundations of quantum physics! In this talk, we will describe both these arrows of time and explain attempts at a resolution of Hawking’s paradox by connecting the two arrows of time.
Speaker: Prof. Gautam Mandal
Date: 21st August 2025
Time: 6:30 PM
About Speaker:
Prof. Gautam Mandal
Biography: Gautam Mandal is currently a Raja Ramanna Chair Professor in ICTS-TIFR, Bangalore. He served in the Theoretical Physics Faculty of TIFR, Mumbai for over three decades, and in various visiting positions at (a) the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA, (b) CERN, Switzerland, (c) Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Canada, and (d) KEK, Japan. He obtained his PhD from TIFR, Mumbai in String theory in 1989. His work includes (a) the discovery of the first black hole solution in String theory, and (b) the first proof that black hole evaporation does not violate quantum physics, thus contributing to resolution of Hawking's paradox mentioned above. His current work straddles String theory and Statistical physics, with particular focus on non-equilibrium phenomena in Black hole physics and Quantum Hall Systems. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences.
Colloquium 4
Title: “Understanding the Universe at its largest scales”
Abstract: Astronomy presents us with mind-bogglingly large distances and patterns. E.g., the distance between the Earth and the Sun is about 150 million km, the distance from the Sun to its nearest star is about 300,000 times larger than this, and the size of our Milky Way galaxy is about 25,000 times larger than that in turn. At scales of about a thousand times larger than the size of the Milky Way, so that entire galaxies must be represented as point objects, the Universe is organised into an intricate filamentary network of galaxies and the inter-galactic medium, known as the Cosmic Web. In this talk, we will first walk through a historical overview of the observations that have revealed the Cosmic Web to us in all its glory. We will then pursue another historical path, showing us how a theoretical understanding of this Cosmic Web was built up over the last half century. Finally, we will discuss some of the outstanding open questions and new frontiers in this exciting field of cosmological large-scale structure.
Speaker: Dr. Aseem Paranjape, faculty at Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune.
Date: 20th Nov 2025
Time: 6:30 PM
About Speaker:
Dr. Aseem Paranjape
Biography: Dr Paranjape completed his B.Sc. from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from TIFR, Mumbai. Following a couple of post-doctoral stints at ICTP, Trieste and ETH, Zurich, he joined IUCAA, Pune in 2014, where he is currently a faculty. His primary research interests over the last decade have been in understanding the formation and evolution of cosmological large-scale structure (LSS) on the one hand, and applying statistical techniques to problems in astronomy and physics on the other. He brings these interests together by developing novel statistical probes of the cosmic LSS to address foundational questions such as the nature of dark matter, dark energy and the initial state of the Universe. In his spare time, he tries to teach machines to answer interesting questions.
Colloquium 5
Title: Can we see the shape of Data?
Abstract: Life is full of complex, evolving systems — from markets to environmental systems. Using tools from physics, mathematics, statistics, and AI, scientists can unravel patterns hidden within large datasets. This talk would offer a glimpse into how we decode real-world complexity using data science.
Speaker: Prof. Anirban Chakraborti, Professor at the School of Computational and Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Date: 11th Dec 2025
Time: 6:00 PM
About Speaker:
Prof. Anirban Chakraborti
Biography: Prof. Anirban Chakraborti is currently a professor at the School of Computational and Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, New Delhi. He graduated with a master's in physics from the University of Calcutta, obtained his Ph.D. in physics from Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (Jadavpur University), and completed a Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (HDR) in physics at Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris. He has more than two decades of experience as an academician and held various positions, including serving as the registrar at JNU, an associate professor at the Chair of Quantitative Finance at Ecole Centrale Paris, and a lecturer in theoretical physics at Banaras Hindu University. His postdoctoral research was conducted at Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA, and Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University), Finland. He has also served as the Dean of Research & Development and Dean of School of Engineering and Technology at BML Munjal University, Gurugram. His pioneering research works in Econophysics, Sociophysics, Complex Systems and Data Science have been published as books, edited volumes, and research articles. He also has expertise on quantum physics (entanglement) and nanomaterial science (quantum dots and two-dimensional nanosheets). Chakraborti was awarded the Young Scientist Medal by the Indian National Science Academy in 2009, and elected as a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS-UNESCO) in 2023 (see https://twas.org/directory/chakraborti-anirban).
Registration for participation
E-Certificates
All the registered participants who attend the physics colloquium will receive an e-certificate.
Contact us
Prof. Subhayan Biswas
Coordinator, LNMIIT Physics Colloquium
Email: physics.colloquium@lnmiit.ac.in
Postal address: The LNM Institute of Information Technology, Rupa ki Nangal, Jaipur -302031