Ramaswamy is a theoretician whose research investigates nonequilibrium statistical physics,soft matter,condensed matter physics andbiological physics.[1] His research helped found the field ofactive matter, which studies themotility and related collective behaviour of objects that convert local energy input into autonomous motion.[6]
He is widely known for formulating thehydrodynamic equations[7][8] governing the alignment, flow, mechanics and statistical properties of suspensions of self-propelled creatures, on scales from a cell to the ocean.[9][10] Key predictions—that macroscopically alignedflocks of swimming bacteria are impossible, and that the addition of swimmers to a fluid can make theviscosity arbitrarily small—have been confirmed in recent experiments. His insight into nonliving imitations of self-propulsion has led to design principles forchemotacticcolloids, the first experiments observing giant number fluctuations in flocks, and the creation of flocks with a tiny minority of motile constituents.[6][11][12][13][14]
^Marchetti, M. C.; Joanny, J. F.; Ramaswamy, S.; Liverpool, T. B.; Prost, J.; Rao, Madan; Simha, R. Aditi (2013). "Hydrodynamics of soft active matter".Reviews of Modern Physics.85 (3):1143–1189.Bibcode:2013RvMP...85.1143M.doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.85.1143.
^Levine, Dov; Lubensky, T. C.; Ostlund, Stellan; Ramaswamy, Sriram; Steinhardt, Paul Joseph; Toner, John (1985). "Elasticity and Dislocations in Pentagonal and Icosahedral Quasicrystals".Physical Review Letters.54 (14):1520–1523.Bibcode:1985PhRvL..54.1520L.doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.54.1520.PMID10031060.