Related papers: Biolocomotion and premelting in ice
We show that condensation is an efficient particle growth mechanism, leading to growth beyond decimeter-sized pebbles close to an ice line in protoplanetary discs. As coagulation of dust particles is frustrated by bouncing and…
Here we show that, despite a massive incident flux of energetic species, plasmas can induce transient cooling of a material surface. Using time-resolved optical thermometry in-situ with this plasma excitation, we reveal the novel underlying…
How particles are deposited at the edge of evaporating droplets, i.e. the {\em coffee ring} effect, plays a crucial role in phenomena as diverse as thin-film deposition, self-assembly, and biofilm formation. Recently, microorganisms have…
Biomolecules can be synthesized in interstellar ice grains subject to UV radiation and cosmic rays. I show that on time scales of $\gtrsim 10^{6}$ years, these processes lead to the formation of large percolation clusters of organic…
Biofilms are ubiquitous macro-colonies of bacteria that develop at various interfaces (solid-liquid, solid-gas or liquid-gas). The formation of biofilms starts with the attachment of individual bacteria to an interface, where they…
Protoplanetary disk ice lines shape a multitude of planet formation processes, setting the environmental composition through evolution. Ice line locations depend on molecular sublimation and deposition properties, but in dynamic disks where…
Ecosystem-bedrock interactions power the biogeochemical cycles of Earth's shallow crust, supporting life, stimulating substrate transformation, and spurring evolutionary innovation. While oxidative processes have dominated half of…
Premelting at the ice-polymer interfaces, in which a quasi-liquid layer (QLL) forms below the melting point, is strongly influenced by polymer surface chemistry; however, the molecular-scale mechanisms underlying these effects remain poorly…
While ubiquitous, energy redistribution remains a poorly understood facet of the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of biomolecules. At the molecular level, finite-size effects, pronounced nonlinearities, and ballistic processes produce behavior…
Collective behavior of bacterial colonies plays critical roles in adaptability, survivability, biofilm expansion and infection. We employ an individual-based model of an interstitial biofilm to study emergent pattern formation based on the…
Active nematics are the nonequilibrium analog of passive liquid crystals in which anisotropic units consume free energy to drive emergent behavior. Similar to liquid crystal (LC) molecules in displays, ordering and dynamics in active…
The first challenge in the formation of both terrestrial planets and the cores of gas giants is the retention of grains in protoplanetary disks. In most regions of these disks, gas attains sub-Keplerian speeds as a consequence of a negative…
The ice-rubber interface is critical in applications such as tires and shoe outsoles, yet its molecular tribology remains unclear. Using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, we studied premelting layers at the basal face of ice in…
The melting of metallic nanoparticles is governed by surface pre-melting, a phenomenon traditionally modeled as the isotropic growth of a uniform liquid shell. Challenging this classical view, we report facet-dependent surface pre-melting…
My thesis work aims to study the inter-relation between various physical and chemical conditions in a wide range of astrophysical environments. Our studied regions range from the super-hot regions (i.e., nebular, photon-dominated, or…
Planet formation occurs over a few Myr within protoplanetary discs of dust and gas, which are often assumed to evolve in isolation. However, extended gaseous structures have been uncovered around many protoplanetary discs, suggestive of…
Ice is a major component of astrophysical environment - from interstellar molecular clouds through protoplanetary disks to evolved solar systems. Ice and complex organic matter coexist in these environments as well, and it is thought…
Convective flows coupled with solidification or melting in water bodies play a major role in shaping geophysical landscapes. Particularly in relation to the global climate warming scenario, it is essential to be able to accurately quantify…
As a prototype of systems bearing a localization-delocalization transition, the strand-separation (melting) process in a double-stranded biopolymer is studied by a mapping to a quantum-mechanical problem with short-ranged potentials. Both…
Living microorganisms have evolved dedicated sensory machinery to detect environmental perturbations, processing these signals through biochemical networks to guide behavior. Replicating such capabilities in synthetic active matter remains…