The theoretical statistical physics group in department of physics, University of Kerala at present mainly focuses on the broad areas of active Brownian Dynamics with potential applications in biology. Active matter is a special class of condensed matter system in which the constituent particle consumes energy from and dissipates into the environment in order to self-propel by their own surprisingly in the absence of any external bias. It is a diverse area with considerable applications in both Physics and Biology. The collection of bacteria and other micro-sized organisms are some good examples of active matter system. Similarly in the macroscopic scale, flocking of birds and school of fishes, etc.. are also some apt examples of the rich areas of active transport system. One of the main aspects of active matter is that these systems are always out of equilibrium since they self propell by their own, driving it far away from equilibrium and generate a spontaneous flow in the system. Hence in general, it is expected that the constituent of such system exhibit some interesting dynamical behvaiour or exotic phenomana which is completely different from that of passive Brownian dynamics.

Recent Research Highlights:  Recently the theoretical statistical physics group lead by Dr Mamata Sahoo with the reserach scholar Muhammed Muhsin A along close collaboration with Dr Arnab Saha observed a novel magnetic phase transition of a such system consiting of a charged Brownian particle suspended in a viscoelastic suspension while subjected to an external magnetic field. By the complex interplay between the elastic time scale and the persistent time scale of the dynamics, the system undergoes an interesting phase transition from the paramagnetic behaviour to the diamagnetic behaviour. This work is published in Physical Review E, 104, 034613 (2021).

Importance in Scientific Applications: This theoretical work can be ammenable for experimental verification and all the theoretical results are important to implement magnetic control on the dynamics of an active suspension by fine tuning the physical properties of the system together with the external magnetic field and can be applicable in predicting the response of magnetotatic bacteria inside living cells.