Dr. Rakesh Chatterjee

Welcome to my personal webpage, which serves as an extended version of my CV. I am currently working as a Scientific Researcher at Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.

My research focuses on the statistical properties of systems far from equilibrium, with the aim of understanding complex physical and biological phenomena. I develop minimal models that capture essential physical mechanisms and investigate their behavior using a combination of analytical theory and numerical simulations. My research interests span a broad range of topics in non-equilibrium statistical physics, particularly active matter and soft matter, with applications to biological and materials science.

Statistical physics seeks to understand how interactions among microscopic constituents give rise to collective structures and macroscopic phenomena. Since my Ph.D., I have worked on a variety of problems in statistical physics, including low-dimensional driven and diffusive systems and particle systems subjected to time-periodic forces in one dimension. More recently, my research has expanded into soft matter, covering topics such as the collective behavior of non-convex active particles, glassy dynamics, dynamically arrested states, microemulsion systems, and numerical models inspired by synthetic biological experiments.

Earlier in my research career, I worked on critical dynamics in complex systems. In one project, we treated financial markets as dynamical systems and used time-series analysis to investigate correlation patterns and identify possible precursors of critical market states. To characterize the statistical behavior of financial markets and their sectors, we analyzed co-movements and correlations among individual stocks.

Recent experiments have shown that cells in dense biological tissues can exhibit characteristics similar to glassy materials, including dynamical arrest and heterogeneous dynamics. Using a lattice-based model, we demonstrated that increasing density can dynamically frustrate the system's pathway toward optimal packing, leading to an arrested, lower-density disordered glassy state.

In another research project, I investigated the interplay between transcriptional activity, chromatin organization, and phase separation in DNA oligo-based nanomotifs. The goal was to understand how activity at the molecular level can influence the organization and dynamics of phase-separated structures.

My recent work focuses on lattice-based and continuum theories of active microemulsions, where non-equilibrium switching between different amphiphile states modifies phase behavior and relaxation dynamics. Through systematic coarse-graining, we developed continuum descriptions that capture dynamic structure factors and entropy production, providing a theoretical framework for connecting microscopic non-equilibrium processes with emergent mesoscopic behavior.