TITLE : 200 Years of Studies of Phase Transitions
ABSTRACT :
The scientific study of phase transitions may be said to have begun with the demonstration of continuity of the liquid and gaseous states at high temperatures by Cagniard de la Tour in 1822. In this lecture, I will present a personal perspective about its status after 200 years. Our understanding of continuous phase transitions is pretty good by now. The scaling theories of Widom, Fisher and Kadanoff have led to a good framework for understanding critical phenomena. But we still do not have simple tractable models that show the solid to liquid to gas phase transitions. First order transitions, and other transitions like the glass transition are still not understood as well. I will try to explain the basic ideas of the Lee-Yang theory of phase transitions in terms of the zeros of the partition function in the complex activity plane, the work of Wilson on the renormalization group theory for continuous phase transitions, and phases that are intermediate between solid and liquids. I will also mention some of my recent work on phase transitions in systems with only hard-core interactions.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER :
Prof. Deepak Dhar is a distinguished theoretical physicist and one of India’s most celebrated scholars in condensed matter physics. He obtained his B.Sc. from the University of Allahabad, M.Sc. from IIT Kanpur, and Ph.D. from Caltech, USA. He spent nearly four decades at TIFR, Mumbai, retiring as Distinguished Professor, and later served at IISER and is currently an INSA Distinguished Professor at ICTS Bengaluru. He is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the S.S. Bhatnagar Prize, J.R. Schrieffer Prize, Boltzmann Medal, and the Padma Bhushan. He is a Fellow of all major Indian science academies and TWAS. He has also received the S.N. Bose Medal, JC Bose Fellowship, and multiple lifetime achievement honors. His contributions have profoundly influenced modern theoretical and condensed matter physics.
MEETING DETAILS :
Speaker: Prof. Deepak Dhar (Honoured with the Padma Bhushan) (I.N.S.A. Distinguished Professor, International Center for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru)
Venue: Auditorium, North Campus, IIT Mandi
Date and Time: January 30, 2026, Friday at 5:00 PM