Overview

Quantum magnetism and low-temperature phenomena: Investigating bond-dependent exchange in frustrated lattices with Chris Stock and Tiberiu Popescu. Using simulation techniques to connect microscopic spin models with experimental signatures such as magnetocaloric effects. Work formed the basis of my Senior Honours Project and Physical Review Letters publication.
Active matter and bacterial turbulence: Modelling finite-duration tumbling in bacterial swimmers with Alexander Morozov, examining its influence on instability thresholds through linear stability analysis of coupled Smoluchowski equations.
Chromatin dynamics: Collaborating with Davide Marenduzzo to extend Hopfield network models to the pangenomic model, exploring whether chromatin folding states can act as memory attractors in a Waddington-like landscape.
Computational modelling: Early work includes a numerical simulation of the Solar System using Newtonian dynamics and the Verlet integration method, testing and refining computational physics skills. I also use LAMMPS and VMD to simulate chromatin dynamics in my research in DNA biophysics. The programming languages I use in my work are: Python, MATLAB, HTML and R (listed in order of decreasing fluency).

Main Interests: Quantum Magnetism · Active Matter · DNA Biophysics · Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics · Computational Physics · Simulations

June 2024 – August 2024 · with Chris Stock and Tiberiu Popescu

Zeeman Split Kramers Doublets in Spin-Supersolid Candidate Na₂BaCo(PO₄)₂

Na₂BaCo(PO₄)₂ is a triangular antiferromagnet near a quantum critical point (μ₀H_c ≈ 1.6 T), enabling highly efficient adiabatic demagnetization cooling; high-field neutron spectroscopy reveals coupled Zeeman-split Kramers doublets driving ferromagnetic excitations that become overdamped and spatially disordered below μ₀H_c, with field-tuned evolution underpinning magnetocaloric effects and highlighting Kramers doublet systems near quantum criticality as promising low-temperature coolants.

January 2025 – March 2025

Understanding Bond-Dependent Exchange in CoTiO₃

This study applies a Green’s function response model to spin-wave excitations in CoTiO₃, developing a novel mathematical framework incorporating a rotating frame and single-ion Co²⁺ physics; findings emphasize strong bond-dependent exchange interactions modeled via Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) theory, with dimer formation proposed as the source of anisotropy, validated by deriving θ_CW = 17.4 K and constraining exchange and molecular field terms to ~4.0 ± 0.2 meV, highlighting cobaltates like CoTiO₃ as spin-liquid candidates.

January 2024 – March 2024

Testing the Validity of Kepler’s Third Law

By simulating the Solar System with Newtonian dynamics and the Verlet method, this project determined an optimal time step of 0.5 days, keeping energy fluctuations to just 4.36×10⁻³%. Over 500 simulated years, the model accurately reproduced orbital periods, perihelia, and aphelia, and captured phenomena like Mercury’s apsidal precession. The results confirmed Kepler’s Third Law, even when planetary masses were altered, allowing exploration of how changes in planet sizes affect neighboring orbits.

Currently Working On

June 2025 – Present · with Alexander Morozov

Modelling Bacterial Turbulence with Finite Tumbling

In this work, we investigate how introducing a finite tumbling duration into models of bacterial swimmers affects the onset of hydrodynamic instabilities, as revealed through changes in the system’s dispersion relations. We treat the population as consisting of runners and tumblers, with stochastic switching between the two states at prescribed rates. This leads to a coupled pair of Smoluchowski equations for the distribution functions of each population, incorporating both translational and rotational dynamics.

Unlike the instantaneous reorientation assumed in classic run-and-tumble models, tumblers here undergo active reorientation at a finite angular velocity, while also experiencing the same hydrodynamic couplings as runners. We identify the uniform, isotropic steady state of the system and perform a linear stability analysis about this base state. By projecting perturbations onto monopole, dipole, and quadrupole spherical harmonics, the governing equations reduce to a tractable eigenvalue problem.

This formulation allows us to quantify how finite tumbling modifies the critical parameters for instability onset, alters the growth rates of unstable modes, and changes the relative contributions of hydrodynamic and reorientation mechanisms. The results provide a systematic route to connect microscopic swimmer dynamics with emergent large-scale flow patterns in active suspensions.

August 2025 – Present · with Davide Marenduzzo

Hopfield Network and Chromatin memory

This project explores whether the diverse conformational states emerging from chromatin folding—particularly those associated with transcription factory formation—can act as stable memory states in the cell’s regulatory landscape. Building on the connection between induced phase separation in chromatin and the emergence of transcriptional hubs, we investigate whether these folded states can serve as attractors in a Hopfield network framework. In this analogy, the Waddington landscape is reinterpreted as a network of memory basins, where cellular states are “remembered” and re-established following division. The aim is to bridge physical models of chromatin organization with neural network theory, providing insight into how genome architecture encodes and preserves cellular identity.

Research and Projects