Attipat Krishnaswamy Rajagopal (commonly known as A K Rajagopal) is an Indian-American theoretical physicist known for his contributions to density functional theory (DFT) and quantum information science. He worked at Louisiana State University and the United States Naval Research Laboratory. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.[1]
Early life and education[edit | edit source]
Rajagopal was one of six children of mathematician A. A. Krishnaswami Ayyangar (1892–1953).[2] His brother was poet and scholar A. K. Ramanujan.[3]
He grew up in Mysore and studied physics at Yuvaraja College. He received his master's degree in 1960 from the Indian Institute of Science. His research focused on lattice vibrations in zinc blende.[1][4][5]
He later joined Harvard University and received his PhD in 1965 for a thesis titled Itinerant electron ferromagnetism.[1][6]
Career[edit | edit source]
Rajagopal worked in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Louisiana State University from the mid-1960s until 1985.[1][7]
In 1978, he spent a year at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center.[8]
In 1985, he joined the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. His research covered condensed matter physics, statistical physics, magnetic materials, superconductivity and nanoelectronic structures. He also worked on time-dependent density functional theory, Tsallis entropy and quantum information theory.[1]
Rajagopal is president of the Inspire Institute, a nonprofit organisation founded in 2006. He has also worked as an adjunct faculty member at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute.[1][9]
Research[edit | edit source]
During the 1970s, Rajagopal worked on spin-density-functional theory. His research with J. Callaway helped establish the theoretical basis of relativistic density functional theory.[10][11]
His later research included current-density-functional theory and variational principles for quantum states.[12]
In the later part of his career, he focused on quantum information science, including quantum entropy, entanglement and superstatistics.[13][14]
Selected publications[edit | edit source]
- Rajagopal, A. K.; Callaway, J. (1973). "Inhomogeneous Electron Gas". Physical Review B. 7: 1912–1919. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.7.1912.
- Rajagopal, A. K. (1978). "Inhomogeneous relativistic electron gas". Journal of Physics C. 11: L943–L948. doi:10.1088/0022-3719/11/24/002.
- Rajagopal, A. K.; Kimball, J. C. (1977). "Correlations in a two-dimensional electron system". Physical Review B. 15: 2819–2825. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.15.2819.
- Abe, S.; Rajagopal, A. K. (2001). "Nonadditive conditional entropy and its significance for local realism". Physica A. 289: 157–164. doi:10.1016/S0378-4371(00)00476-3.
Awards[edit | edit source]
Rajagopal was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1970 and a Fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences in 1994.[15][1] In 1984, he received the Distinguished Research Master award from Louisiana State University.[16]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "About Us". Inspire Institute.
- ↑ "A A Krishnaswami Ayyangar (1892–1953)". University of St Andrews.
- ↑ A. K. Srinivasan. "Historical work of A. A. K. Ayyangar".
- ↑ "Physics".
- ↑ Rajagopal, A. K.; Srinivasan, R. (1960). "Lattice vibrations and specific heat of zinc blende". Zeitschrift für Physik. 158: 471–482. doi:10.1007/BF01327023.
- ↑ Rajagopal, A. K. (1965). Itinerant electron ferromagnetism (Thesis). Harvard University.
- ↑ Grest, G. S.; Rajagopal, A. K. (1974). "Excitation Energy of Liquid Helium II". Progress of Theoretical Physics. 52. doi:10.1143/PTP.52.811.
- ↑ Rajagopal, A. K. (1978). "Linear-response functions in spin-density-functional theory". Physical Review B. 17: 2980–2989. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.17.2980.
- ↑ "Members, including former adjunct professors".
- ↑ Rajagopal, A. K.; Callaway, J. (1973). "Inhomogeneous Electron Gas". Physical Review B. 7: 1912–1919. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.7.1912.
- ↑ Rajagopal, A. K. (1978). "Inhomogeneous relativistic electron gas". Journal of Physics C: Solid State Physics. 11: L943–L948. doi:10.1088/0022-3719/11/24/002.
- ↑ Rajagopal, A. K.; Buot, F. A. (1995). "Variational principles for ensembles of quantum states". Physical Review A. 51: 1770–1775. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.51.1770.
- ↑ "A. K. Rajagopal — ResearchGate profile".
- ↑ Rajagopal, A. K.; Abe, S. (2004). "Statistical mechanical foundations of power-law distributions". Physica D. 193: 73–83. doi:10.1016/j.physd.2004.01.010.
- ↑ "APS Fellows archive".
- ↑ "Distinguished Research Master Award".