Raghunath Chelakkot
Associate Professor
Photograph: 
Email: 
raghu@phy.iitb.ac.in
Office: 

210

Research Interests: 

My research interests are broadly classified into three categories

1. Driven Soft matter

Micron-scaled soft particles such as polymers, filaments, colloids and soft shells, driven by an external flow display rich dynamical behaviors in various physical environments. We study these systems using a hybrid stochastic-hydrodynamic simulation scheme, called Multiparticle Collision Dynamics (MPC).

2. Active matter

The individual components of active matter propel themselves using a continuous supply of energy, either generated internally or absorbed from the environment, and display highly dynamic, out-of-equilibrium patterns and structures. Collection of swimming bacteria, motor driven intercellular filaments, oscillating cilia and flagella and synthetic self propelling colloidal particles are a few examples of these systems. In many cases, their collective behavior can be studied from a condensed matter perspective, by including an ‘active’ term to each individual elements and by taking care of their interactions. We study these systems by a combination of analytical and numerical techniques.

3. Physics of sentient systems

Many of the biological systems in nature actively respond to sensory inputs and regulate their movements (such as growth and locomotion) accordingly. However, their response is limited by their intrinsic physical and mechanical constraints. In many cases the observed growth shape or locomotive behavior of a given organism is a result of these two factors, namely the sensitivity to the external input and the physical constraints. We are interested to study the diverse active movements observed in nature and try to understand them from this perspective.

Selected Publications: 

Percolation transition in phase separating active fluid, Monika Sanoria, Raghunath Chelakkot, Amitabha Nandi, arXiv:2203.05433 

A mechano-sensing mechanism for waving plant roots, Z. Zhang, D. van Ophem, R. Chelakkot, N. Lazarovitch, I. Regev, Scientific Reports, 12, 9636, 2022.

Role of Delta-Notch signalling molecules on cell-cell adhesion in determining heterogeneous chemical and cell morphological pattering, S. Bajpai, R. Chelakkot, R. Prabhakar, M M. Inamdar, Soft Matter 18(18), 2022. 

Influence of interaction softness on phase separation of active particles, Monika Sanoria, Raghunath Chelakkot, Amitabha Nandi, Phys Rev E, 103(5), 2021

Roll of cell polarity and motility in pattern formation due to contact-dependant signalling, S. Bajpai, R. Prabhakar, R. Chelakkot, M M. Inamdar, J. Roy. Soc. Interface, 18(175), 2021. 

Cluster and conquer: the morphodynamics of invasion of a compliant substrate by active rods, M. Imaran. M. M. Inamdar, R. Prabhakar, R. Chelakkot, Soft Matter, 17(32), 2021.

Synchronized oscillations, travelling waves, and jammed clusters induced by steric interactions in active filament arrays, Raghunath Chelakkot, Michael F. Hagan, Arvind Gopinath, Soft Matter 17(4), 2021.

Aggregate morphology of active Brownian particles on porous, circular walls, Suchismita Das, Sounok Ghosh, Raghunath Chelakkot, Phys Rev E 102(3), 2020

Buckling instabilities and spatio-temporal dynamics of active elastic filaments, Y. Fili, P. Subramanian, T. M. Schneider, R. Chelakkot, A. Gopinath, J. Roy. Soc. Interface, 17, 165, 2020

Periodic oscillations in a string of camphor-infused disks, I Tiwari, P. Parmananda, R. Chelakkot, Soft Matter, 16(45), 10334, 2020.

Transitional or rotational dynamics of a self-propelled Janus probe in crowded environments, L Theeyancheri, S. Chaki, N. Samanta, R. Goswami, R Chelakkot, R Chakrabarti, Soft Matter, 16(36), 2020.

Morphological transitions of active Brownian particles on porous walls, Suchismita Das, Raghunath Chelakkot, Soft Matter 16(31), 2020

Beating and rotational transition of a clamped active ribbon-like filament, S. K. Anand, Raghunath Chelakkot, Sunil P. Singh, Soft Matter 15(39), 2019.  

On growth and form of plant shoots, Raghunath Chelakkot, L. Mahadevan, J. Roy. Soc. Interface, 14, 128, 2017. 

Flagellar dynamics of a connected chain of active, polar, Brownian particles. Raghunath Chelakkot, Arvind Gopinath, L. Mahadevan and Michael F. Hagan, J. R. Soc. Interface, 11, 20130884 (2014).

Flow induced helical coiling of semiflexible polymer in structured microchannels.- Raghunath Chelakkot, Roland G. Winkler, Gerhard Gompper, Phys. Rev. Lett., 109, 178101 (2012).

Length dependence of crosslinker induced network formation of rods: a Monte Carlo study. Raghunath Chelakkot, Thomas Gruhn. Soft Matter, 8, 11746 (2012)

Semiflexible polymer conformation, distribution and migration in microcapillary flows Raghunath Chelakkot, Roland G. Winkler, Gerhard Gompper, J. Phys. Cond. Matter. 23, 184117 (2011)

Migration of semiflexible polymers in microcapillary flows, Raghunath Chelakkot, Roland G. Winkler, Gerhard Gompper, EPL, 91, 14001 (2010).

Research Category: