Sunil Mukhi

Sunil Mukhi
Born 20 November 1956
Mumbai, India
Residence India
Nationality Indian
Fields Physics
Institutions Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
International Centre for Theoretical Physics
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Alma mater St Xavier's College Mumbai
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Doctoral advisor George Sterman
Doctoral students Keshav Dasgupta, Bahniman Ghosh, Nemani Suryanarayana, Anindya Mukherjee, Rahul Nigam
Known for String Theory
Notable awards S.S. Bhatnagar Award 1999
J.C. Bose Fellowship, 2008.

Sunil Mukhi is an Indian theoretical physicist working in the areas of string theory, quantum field theory and particle physics.

Career

He earned a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics in 1981 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. After spending two years at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics at Trieste, Italy, he returned to India where he has worked at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India since 1984. In November, 2012 he joined Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune as the head of physics department.

Research

His major publications deal with fundamental properties of string theories, and include the conformal invariance of supersymmetric two-dimensional field theories which describe the world-sheet dynamics of strings,[1] the study of supersymmetric solitons using index theorems,[2] the discovery of a new duality between string theory and M-theory,[3] the identification of string networks as supersymmetric states[4] and the discovery of a novel Higgs mechanism in the worldvolume theory of M-theory membranes.[5]

Other activities

In 2002, he played a role[6] in exposing a series of instances of plagiarism by the Vice-Chancellor of Kumaon University in India. The Vice-Chancellor was eventually found guilty by a national committee[7] and subsequently resigned.

Mukhi has a number of interests in addition to physics, notably Indian Classical Music on which he maintains a webpage , science popularisation which he carries out through seminars at schools and colleges as well as newspaper articles, and cinema, cooking and meditation. Within the field of Indian Classical Music he has spent considerable effort archiving classic recordings, particularly those of notable vocal artist Pandit Kumar Gandharva on whom he also maintains a webpage . He also writes a blog, named "Tantu-jaal"

Honors

Mukhi is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy and a recipient of the S.S. Bhatnagar Award for Physical Sciences, 1999 and the J.C. Bose Fellowship, 2008. He has been an Editor of the Journal of High Energy Physics since its inception.

Mukhi was an invited speaker at the international conferences Strings 2000 in Michigan, Strings 2002 in Cambridge and Strings 2008 in Geneva. He was one of the organisers of Strings 2001 in Mumbai - a conference that attracted much publicity because of the participation of David Gross, Stephen Hawking and Edward Witten among other luminaries in the field. He has also lectured at advanced schools in theoretical physics, notably at Cargèse and Les Houches in France, at the SERC school series in India, and at the first PITP School at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton during his sabbatical year there.

References

  1. Alvarez-Gaumé, L.; Freedman, D. Z.; Mukhi, S. (1981). "The background field method and the ultraviolet structure of the supersymmetric nonlinear σ-model". Annals of Physics 134: 85. Bibcode:1981AnPhy.134...85A. doi:10.1016/0003-4916(81)90006-3.
  2. Imbimbo, C.; Mukhi, S. (1984). "Index theorems and supersymmetry in the soliton sector". Nuclear Physics B 247 (2): 471. Bibcode:1984NuPhB.247..471I. doi:10.1016/0550-3213(84)90559-5.
  3. Dasgupta, K.; Mukhi, S. (1996). "Orbifolds of M-theory". Nuclear Physics B 465 (3): 399. arXiv:hep-th/9512196. Bibcode:1996NuPhB.465..399D. doi:10.1016/0550-3213(96)00070-3.
  4. Dasgupta, K.; Mukhi, S. (1998). "BPS nature of 3-string junctions". Physics Letters B 423 (3–4): 261. doi:10.1016/S0370-2693(98)00140-3.
  5. Mukhi, S.; Papageorgakis, C. (2008). "M2 to D2". Journal of High Energy Physics 2008 (5): 085. doi:10.1088/1126-6708/2008/05/085.
  6. Ramachandran, R (2002-10-26). "The Vice-Chancellor of Kumaun University and a research group led by him stand accused of having indulged in various forms of misconduct in research, including plagiarism" (Press release). India: Frontline.
  7. Bagla, Pallava (2003-02-03). "Probe panel upholds plagiarism charges against Kumaon V-C" (Press release). New Delhi: The Indian Express.

External links

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