Coordinator: Dean's Office
Ayush Gupta and Tathagata Sengupta
Monday and Thursday (11 AM to 1 PM)
Starting from August 23, 2021
25Thu
Coordinator: Dr. Mashood K. K.
Dr. Kolahal Bhattacharya, HBCSE, TIFR
https://zoom.us/j/94058085713?pwd=QjY3TWpKUC84TFhldkdlS01ScnVGdz09
940 5808 5713
967696
There is a similarity between light rays in geometrical optics and trajectories in classical mechanics which has been pointed out by several educators in the past decades. It is possible to extend this analogy to the electrostatic fields due to a variational principle in electrostatics, similar to the Fermat's principle in Optics. In this talk, I shall talk about the implications of this analogy for undergraduate physics courses, by covering topics on electrostatic analogue of 'F=ma' and the corresponding Lagrangian formulation. I will mention the possibility of a semi-classical description of the electrostatic fields and its consequences. I shall also discuss about a recent work performed at HBCSE on a problem on Lagrangian mechanics which can be useful for undergraduate physics curriculum.
Kolahal Bhattacharya is a visiting fellow at HBCSE since February 2021. Before joining the institute, I worked at Manipal University last as an assistant professor. My professional background has been on computational high energy physics. During doctoral thesis and postdoc, I have worked on many neutrino and dark matter search experiments. I was also involved in academic scholarly works related to university-level physics curriculum, since my M.Sc. days. For last three years, I have been a reviewer of the European Journal of Physics which is a journal dedicated to pedagogy of physics. It is this interest that brought me to HBCSE.