Kedar Damle

Current Position: 

• Senior Professor, Dept. of Theoretical Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Professor (2013 -2020 ), Associate Professor (2008-2013), Reader (2004-2008)

Education:

• Ph.D, Yale University 1998. (Advisor: Subir Sachdev)

• B.Tech, IIT Bombay 1992. (Major: Engineering Physics)

Employment history:

• Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University 2002-2004

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Condensed Matter Theory Group, Harvard University 2000-2002

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Condensed Matter Theory Group, Princeton University 1998-2000 

Distinctions:

• J. C. Bose Fellowship (2021)

• Teaching Excellence Award, TIFR Alumni Association (2019)

• Fellowship of the Indian National Science Academy (2018)

• Fellowship of the Indian Academy of Sciences (2016)

• Birla Science Prize (2009)

• Ramanujan Fellowship (2006)

• Sloan Research Fellow, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (2003)

• IIT JEE 1988: All India Rank 6

Visiting positiions:

• Visiting Professor, ISSP, University of Tokyo (Summer, 2017)

• Visiting Professor, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse (Summer ,2011)

• Visiting Professor, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse (Summer, 2009)

• Visiting Faculty, IIT Bombay (Spring Term 2008)

• Visiting Scientist,  Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris (Summer, 2006)

• Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Summer, 1998)

Adjunct positions:

• Adjunct Faculty, IIT Bombay (2008-2010)

• Associate, ICTS-TIFR Bengaluru (2009-2016; 2019-)`

Publications: Recent (2021-)

• Competition between Neel, Haldane nematic, plaquette valence bond solid, and (\pi, \pi) valence bond solid phases in SU(N) analogs of spin $S=1$ square lattice antiferromagnets, S. Kundu, N. Desai, K. Damle, Phys. Rev. B 109,  195146 (2024)

• Band-center metal-insulator transition in bond-disordered graphene, N. P. Nayak, S. Sarkar, K. Damle, S. Bera, Phys. Rev. B 109, 035109 (2024)

• Ashkin-Teller phase transition and multicritical behavior in a classical monomer-dimer model, S. Morita, H-Y. Lee, K. Damle, N. Kawashima, Phys. Rev. Res. 5, 043061 (2023)

• Spontaneous layering and power-law order in the three-dimensional fully-packed hard-plate lattice gas, G. Rakala, D. Mandal, S. Biswas, K. Damle, D. Dhar, R. Rajesh, Phys. Rev. E 107, 064137 (2023).

• Phases of the hard-plate lattice gas on a three-dimensional cubic lattice, D. Mandal, G. Rakala, K. Damle, D. Dhar, R. Rajesh,  Phys. Rev. E 107, 064136 (2023).

• Dulmage-Mendelsohn percolation: Geometry of maximally packed dimer models and topologically protected zero modes on site-diluted bipartite lattices, R. Bhola, S. Biswas, Md M. Islam, K. Damle,  Phys. Rev. X 12, 021058 (2022).

• Theory of collective topologically protected Majorana fermion excitations of networks of localized Majorana modes, K. Damle, Phys. Rev. B 105, 235118 (2022).

• Emergent moments and random singlet physics in a Majorana spin liquid, S. Sanyal, K. Damle, J. T. Chalker, R. Moessner, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 127201 (2021).

• Fractional Brownian motion of worms in worm algorithms for frustrated Ising models, G. Rakala, K. Damle, and D. Dhar, Phys. Rev. E 103, 0621010 (2021)

• Bilayer Coulomb phase of two-dimensional dimer models: Absence of power-law columnar order, N. Desai, S. Pujari, K. Damle, Phys. Rev. E 103, 042136 (2021)

Publications: Selected (2005-20)

• Quantum half-orphans in kagome antiferromagnets,  P. Patil, F. Alet, S. Capponi, K. Damle, Phys. Rev. Research 2, 043425 (2020)

• Singular ferromagnetic susceptibility of the transverse-field Ising antiferromagnet on the triangular lattice, Sounak Biswas and Kedar Damle, Phys. Rev. B 97, 085114 (2018)

• Sign-Problem-Free Monte Carlo Simulation of Certain Frustrated Quantum Magnets, Fabien Alet, Kedar Damle, and Sumiran Pujari, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 197203 (2016)

• Classical Spin Liquid on the Maximally Frustrated Honeycomb Lattice, J. Rehn, Arnab Sen, Kedar Damle, and R. Moessner, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 167201 (2016)

• Vacancy-Induced Low-Energy States in Undoped Graphene, Sambuddha Sanyal, Kedar Damle, and Olexei I. Motrunich, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 116806 (2016).

• Quantum cluster algorithm for frustrated Ising models in a transverse field, Sounak Biswas, Geet Rakala, and Kedar Damle, Phys. Rev. B 93, 235103 (2016)

• Melting of Three-Sublattice Order in Easy-Axis Antiferromagnets on Triangular and Kagome Lattices, Kedar Damle, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 127204 (2015).

• Columnar Order and Ashkin-Teller Criticality in Mixtures of Hard Squares and Dimers, Kabir Ramola, Kedar Damle, and Deepak Dhar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 190601 (2015).

• Resonating valence bond wavefunctions and classical interacting dimer models, K. Damle, D. Dhar, K. Ramola, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 247216 (2012)

• Fractional spin textures in the frustrated magnet SrCr$_{9p}$Ga$_{12-9p}$O$_{19}$, A. Sen, K. Damle, R. Moessner,  Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 127203 (2011)

• Persistent supersolid phase of hard-core bosons on the triangular lattice, D. Heidarian, K. Damle, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 127206 (2005)

Full publication list (Includes 22 Phys. Rev. Lett. publications, with 17 published from Tata Institute)

See Publications for full list.

Teaching record (summary)

• ~20 semesters of cumulative teaching experience in 2002-22 (10 elective courses, 10 core courses)

Includes teaching at Rice University (2002-2004, full-time faculty), IIT Bombay (2008, visiting faculty; 2010, adjunct faculty), and Tata Institute (2004-present, full-time faculty).

• Core courses taught: Statistical Physics @ TIFR & IITB (EP 320, 2008), Mathematical Methods @TIFR, Quantum Mechanics @ TIFR, Advanced Quantum Mechanics @ TIFR

• Elective courses taught: Condensed Matter Theory-I & II @ Rice University, Advanced Statistical Mechanics @ TIFR and @ IITB (EP 431, 2010), Quantum Theory of Transport @ TIFR, Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena @ TIFR, Condensed Matter Theory @ TIFR 

Full list of courses taught

See Teaching  page for full list and some lecture notes/recordings.

Book-length contribution to National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)

Ideas and Methods in Condensed Matter Theory, Kedar Damle (2013)

Graduate students @ TIFR

• Zahid Ansari (2020-) ongoing

• Souvik Kundu (2020-) ongoing 

• Ritesh Bhola (2020-) ongoing

• Pranoy Varma (2018-20), transferred (after Master's project) to Computer Science@TIFR.

• Sounak Biswas (2013-19), currently a postdoc at Oxford.

• Geet Rakala (2011-2017), currently a postdoc at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology.

• Sambuddha Sanyal (2009-14), Assistant Professor, IISER Tirupathi.

• Argha Banerjee (2005-10), Assistant Professor of Geophysics, IISER Pune.

• Arnab Sen (2004-10), Associate Professor, IACS Kolkata.

• Prasenjit Dutt (2006-8), transferred (after Master's project) to Yale for a Ph.D with R. Shankar

Other significant collaborations with graduate students

• Sabyasachi Chowdhury (2021-) ongoing, jointly with Anoop Raj

Collaboration: Fractional brownian motion in Monte Carlo algorithms [current Ph.D student of Tridib Sadhu (TIFR)]

• Anoop Raj (2021-) ongoing, jointly with Sabyasachi Chowdhury

Collaboration: Fractional Brownian motion in Monte Carlo algorithms [current Ph.D student of Sumiran Pujari (IITB)]

• Adam Iaizzi, AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow

Collaboration: Field-driven metamagnetic transitions in quantum antiferromagnets [Ph.D (2018) advisor: Anders Sandvik (Boston University)]

•   Jorge Rehn,

Collaborations: Random Coulomb antiferromagnets, diluted classical spin liquids [Ph.D (2017) advisor: Roderich Moessner (MPIPKS Dresden)]

•   Kabir Ramola, Reader, TIFR Hyderabad

Collaborations: Hard-square lattice gases; RVB wavefunctions and interacting dimer models [Ph.D (2012) advisor: Deepak Dhar (TIFR Mumbai)]

•   Dariush Heidarian

Collaborations: Supersolids at T = 0 on the triangular lattice; melting of this supersolid phase [Ph.D (2005) advisor: Nandini Trivedi (TIFR)]

•   Olexei Motrunich, Professor of Theoretical Physics, Caltech

Collaborations: Dynamics and transport at strong-disorder fixed points; Low energy properties of disordered superconducting wires with strong spin-orbit scattering; Particle-hole symmetric localization in two dimensions [Ph.D (2001) advisor: David Huse (Princeton)]

Postdocs

• Sumiran Pujari, Associate Professor of Physics, IIT Bombay

2016-17, TIFR Postdoctoral Fellow; 2011-14, CEFIPRA (Indo-French) Postdoctoral Fellow (jointly mentored with F. Alet @ Toulouse)

• Nisheeta Desai (Ph.D 2020, Kentuky)

National Postdoctoral Fellow hosted @ TIFR (2021 - 2023); TIFR postdoc (2023 - 24)

Undergraduate project students

• Adwait Naravane (IISER Kolkata, jointly with Nilmani Mathur) Reading project (2023-24) Tensor Network methods for Kitaev-like models

• Rushikesh Patil (IISER Pune, jointly with G. Sreejith) Research project (2021 - ): Loop statistics in planar loop models

• Suman Kulkarni (IISER Pune, jointly with D. Dhar) Research project (2020 - 21): Statistical mechanics on certain locally tree-like graphs

• Anoop Raj (IISER Pune, jointly with D. Dhar) Research project (2020 - 21): Random geometry of worms and overlap loops

• Saumya Shivam (IIT Bombay) Research project (2016-17): Tensor network determination of central charge of certain multicritical points.

• Pratik Sathe (IIT Bombay 2016 jointly with IITB faculty) Reading project on defect induced susceptibility in the Kitaev model

• Pranay Patil (IIT Madras) &  Ishita Dasgupta (IIT Bombay) Research project (2012-14): Honeycomb lattice RVB wavefunctions and interacting dimer models

• Nisheeta Desai (BITS Goa 2012-13) MSc research project: Melting of three-sublattice order in Ising antiferromagnets on the triangular lattice

• Rashi Varma (CBS Mumbai University 2011-12) MSc. reading project: Renormalization group theory of critical phenomena

• Darshan Sumant (IIT Bombay 2009-10; co-supervised with Prof. Dipan Ghosh) B.Tech reading project: Valence bond basis methods for quantum antiferromagnets

• Yogendra Parmar (IIT Bombay BTP 2009-2010) B.Tech reading project: Interacting dimer and vertex models

• Sauratosh Khan (IIT Bombay 2009-2010) M.Sc. reading project: Topological insulators

• Manasvi Lingam (IIT Bombay 2008-2009) B. Tech. reading project: Projector Quantum Monte-Carlo methods

• Mihir Khadilkar (IIT Bombay 2008-2009) B. Tech reading project: Stochastic Series Expansion quantum Monte-Carlo

Extramural funding

2020 - : Founding member of the  Infosys Chandrasekharan Random Geometry Center 

Conceived and proposed by an interdisciplinary group that includes 10 other faculty spanning three disciplines and two Centers @ TIFR

2011-14: CEFIPRA (Indo-French) grant (jointly with F. Alet @ Toulouse)

2006-11: Ramanujan Fellowship Contingency grant

2003-05: Sloan Research Fellowship Grant (surrendered 2004 upon return to India)

Additional Research Support

2017- : Infosys Endowment for Condensed Matter Physics @ TIFR

Beneficiary of additional privately funded institutional support secured by then-TIFR Director Prof. Trivedi for condensed matter physics @ TIFR

Recent (2021- ) invited conference/workshop talks (for selected slides/recordings, see Talks)

• Monomer percolation, StatPhysKolkata 2023, SN Bose Center Kolkata (December 2023)

• Flux fractionalization transition in anisotropic S=1 kagome antiferromagnets and dimer-loop models, ICTP Conference on Fractionalization and Emergent Gauge Fields in Quantum Matter 2023, Trieste, Italy (December 2023)

• Vacancy induced local moments, QMAT2023 NISER Bhubaneshwar (November 2023)

• Impurity induced local moments in frustrated magnets, SCES Satellite Workshop Quantum Magnetism and Topology 2023,  Pohang South Korea (June 2023)

• Gallai-Edmonds percolation, Workshop on Statistical Physics of Complex Systems, ICTS Bengaluru (December, 2022)

• Monomers, valence bonds, and Curie tails in magnets, CEFIPRA Workshop on Frustrated Magnetism, Bordeaux (online, October 2022)

• Monomer percolation transitions, International Workshop on Frustrated Magnets and Metals, ICTS Bengaluru (online, September 2022)

• Dulmage Mendelsohn percolation and its consequences, International Workshop on Paths to Quantum Field Theory Durham UK (online, August 2022)

• Geometry of maximally packed dimer models and topologically protected zero modes on site-diluted bipartite lattices, Recontres du Vietnam Workshop: Topological quantum electrons interacting in person, (ICISE, Quy Nhon, July 2022)

• Dulmage-Mendelsohn Percolation, Statistical Mechanics Community Meeting ICTS  Bengaluru (February 2022)

• Emergent moments and random singlet susceptibility of a Majorana spin liquid, QMAT2021, (online, December 2021)

• Dulmage-Mendelsohn percolation, JNU Workshop on Current Trends in non-equilibrium physics (online, December 2021)

• Dulmage-Mendelsohn percolation, APCTP-IACS-KIAS International Workshop (online, November 2021)

• Dulmage-Mendelsohn percolation, International Conference on Interdisciplinary Topics in Advanced Materials 2021, JNCASR  Bengaluru (online, July 2021)

Full (2006- ) list of invited conference/workshop talks

see page: Additional Details

Academic administration

see page: Additional Details

Organizational

see page: Additional Details