Intern Review Arkya Chatterjee Johannes Gutenberg University

Intern Experiences Summer 2018

Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

Arkya Chatterjee

Process of securing the intern:

I contacted my prof via email and was funded via DAAD WISE scholarship, which I applied for separately.

What was I working on?

I worked in the area of soft condensed matter physics. To be more specific, my work involved developing a statistical field theoretical model for a phenomenon known as MIPS (motility-induced phase separation) observed in active colloids. There have been interesting phase transitions tuned by the supply of external energy that have been experimentally observed in colloids of this kind. One particular example is a colloid of so-called "Janus" particles. My advisor has been involved with one such experiment in the past, but the theory developed earlier was not able to account for certain aspects of the data observed in the experiment. My work was based on a new idea that my advisor recently came up with, which we found to (at least qualitatively) explain some of these disparities between experiment and theory.

Workload and Tools used:

I got introduced to Ginzburg-Landau theory and some aspects of critical phenomena.

Courses that helped me:

Statistical physics and continuum mechanics were of quite some help. I also had prior experience with stochastic processes (especially Langevin framework), which also helped significantly.

What did I learn during the internship?

One major skill I picked up is cooking. I actually started liking it as a hobby, probably more so because of my living situation, which was quite boring since I was staying in a single apartment off campus. I also developed an appreciation for good beer, which I consider as a great skill :P

Places I visited:

Before my intern had started, I'd promised to myself I'd visit as many places as possible. I lived up to that promise by spending almost every weekend away from Mainz. Among the places I visited are Amsterdam, Koblenz, Luxembourg, Munich, Paris, Prague, Strasbourg, Trier, Vienna, Zurich.
Besides, Mainz has a fantastic farmers' market every weekend, which almost the entire city comes to take part in. I went there a couple of times - that was a rather unique experience! Didn't manage to do any trekking, but went hiking along the Rhine with some friends, and saw a hell lot of castles and vineyards.

DAMP Physics, IITB