Rajan Gupta

Professional Highlights

HIGHLIGHTS have been listed by the year in which the idea was first introduced or when the first work on the stated topic was published. Listing of research publications are available in my Curriculum Vitae and citations at my Google Scholar Page.

RESEARCH: Quantum Chromodynamics

  1. 1982: First one loop calculation of inclusive processes -- the pion form factor. (With R.D. Field, S. Otto and L. Chang)
  2. 1998: A critical analysis of the extraction of light quark masses from sum rules and Lattice QCD using axial and vector current Ward identities. (With T. Bhattacharya and K. Maltman)

RESEARCH: Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics

  1. 1982: First calculation of hadron spectrum with detailed estimates and understanding of finite size corrections and proposal for using improved operators to improve the signal. Subsequently refined these calculations using both Wilson and staggered fermions. (With A. Patel)
  2. 1983: Introduced a novel blocking transformation for 4-dimensional gauge theories-- the square-root 3 blocking. Made first application to U(1) gauge theory. (With R. Cordery and M. Novotny)
  3. 1984: Calculated the non-perturbative beta-functions for SU(2) and SU(3) gauge theory and clarified the behavior of the phase diagram and scaling in the fundamental-adjoint plane. (with A. Patel)
  4. 1984: First calculations of weak matrix elements needed to understand CP violation in the kaon sector in the Standard Model. Subsequently refined these calculations using both Wilson and Staggered Fermions. (With R.C. Brower, M.B. Gavela and G. Maturana)
  5. 1984: Introduced a numerical method to estimate the renormalized action produced under a blocking transformation. Carried out calculations for both SU(2) and SU(3) gauge theories. (with A. Patel)
  6. 1986: Showed that SU(3) gauge theory with four light dynamical flavors has a strong first order phase transition. (With G. Guralnik, G. Kilcup, A. Patel and S. Sharpe)
  7. 1988: Analyzed the scaling behavior of the Hybrid Monte Carlo Algorithm. (With G. Kilcup and S. Sharpe)
  8. 1989: Carried out first large scale simulations of QCD with two dynamical quark flavors. (With C. Baillie, G. Guralnik, G. Kilcup, A. Patel and S. Sharpe)
  9. 1990: First calculation of the kaon bag parameter B_K with staggered fermions. Techniques developed by us continue to be used to provide state-of-the-art results used in QCD phenomenology since 1990. (with G. Kilcup, A. Patel, S. Sharpe)
  10. 1991: A calculation of the pion's quark distribution amplitude in lattice QCD with dynamical fermions. (With D. Daniel and D. Richards)
  11. 1991: First calculations of the glueball spectrum using a renormalization group improved action and operators. (With C. Baillie, G.W. Kilcup, A. Patel and S. Sharpe)
  12. 1992: Developed the formulation for calculating the pion scattering amplitude and carried out calculations for the I=2 part. (With A. Patel and S. Sharpe)
  13. 1993: Developed a novel method to estimate Bethe-Salpeter amplitudes and density correlations. (With D. Daniel and J. Grandy)
  14. 1994: Showed that matrix elements of the singlet Axial current in proton state current cannot be calculated in the quenched approximation. (With J. Mandula)
  15. 1996: First systematic analysis of light (up, down and strange) quark masses that predicted values much lower than conventionally used in phenomenology. (With T. Bhattacharya)
  16. 1998: Developed a non-perturbative method to calculate all the scale independent improvement constants for quark bilinear operators using Ward identities. (With T. Bhattacharya, W. Lee, S. Sharpe
  17. 1998: Calculation of the decay constant of beauty mesons using non-relativistic QCD. (With A. Ali Khan, T. Bhattacharya, S. Collins, C. Davies, C. Morni\ngstar, J. Shigemitsu, J. Sloan)
  18. 2000: Calculation of meson and baryon spectrum with beauty quarks using non-relativistic QCD. (With A. Ali Khan, T. Bhattacharya, S. Collins, C. Davies, C. Morningstar, J. Shigemitsu, J. Sloan)
  19. 2004: Demonstrated that hypercubic smeared staggered fermions have better scaling behavior and small corrections to renormalization constants. (With T. Bhattacharya, G. Fleming, G. Kilcup, W. Lee, S. Sharpe)
  20. 2007-: Developed the US wide HotQCD collaboration to investigate QCD at finite temperature. The Hot QCD collaboration is made up of the Brookhaven-Bielefeld, Riken, Columbia,
  21. 2009: Published a detailed analysis of the equation of state of QCD. (HotQCD collaboration: A Bazavov, T Bhattacharya, M Cheng, NH Christ, C DeTar, S Ejiri, Steven Gottlieb, R Gupta, UM Heller, K Huebner, C Jung, Frithjof Karsch, Edwin Laermann, L Levkova, C Miao, RD Mawhinney, P Petreczky, Christian Schmidt, RA Soltz, W Soeldner, R Sugar, D Toussaint, P Vranas)
  22. 2011: Proposed precesion measurements and calculations of the decay of ultra)cold neutrons to investigate novel scalar and tensor interactions at the TeV scale. (with Tanmoy Bhattacharya, Vincenzo Cirigliano, Saul D Cohen, Alberto Filipuzzi, Martin Gonzalez-Alonso, Michael L Graesser, Rajan Gupta, Huey-Wen Lin)
  23. 2011-: Founded the PNDME Collaboration to investigate nucleon structure (with Tanmoy Bhattacharya, Vincenzo Cirigliano, Saul D Cohen, Rajan Gupta, Anosh Joseph, Huey-Wen Lin, Boram Yoon)
  24. 2012: Detailed analysis of the nature of the transition of QCD at finite temperature. Provided precision estimate of the transition temperature using a scaling analysis of the chiral condensate and its susceptibility in the vicinity of the chiral critical point at zero quark mass. (HotQCD Collaboration: A Bazavov, T Bhattacharya, M Cheng, C DeTar, H-T Ding, Steven Gottlieb, R Gupta, P Hegde, UM Heller, F Karsch, E Laermann, L Levkova, S Mukherjee, P Petreczky, C Schmidt, RA Soltz, W Soeldner, R Sugar, D Toussaint, W Unger, P Vranas)
  25. 2014: Determination of the equation of state of QCD at finite temperature and investigations of the U(1) anomaly with the HotQCD collaboration.
  26. 2015-: Founded the NME collaboration to carry out calculations of nucleon structure using clover fermions. Received an ALCC allocation on Titan at Oak Ridge to carry out these calculations. (with Tanmoy Bhattacharya, Vincenzo Cirigliano, Balint Joo, Huey-Wen Lin, Kostas Orginos, David Richards, Frank Winter, Andre Walker-Loud, Boram Yoon)

RESEARCH: Statistical Mechanics

  1. 1981: Introduced a numerical Hamiltonian method for calculating the mass gap in continuous spin and gauge systems. (With G.C. Fox, O. Martin and S. Otto)
  2. 1984: Developed a new method for Monte Carlo Renormalization Group calculations. (With R. Cordery and M. Novotny)
  3. 1985: Provided numerical evidence for redundant operators in Ising models. (With R. Shankar)
  4. 1985: Explained why the truncation errors in the Monte Carlo Renormalization Group method are small. (With R. Shankar and G. Murthy)
  5. 1988,1991: Carried out state-of-the-art simulations of the 2D XY model. (With C. Baillie)
  6. 1992,1996: State-of-the-art analysis of the 3D Ising model using the Monte Carlo Renormalization Group method. (With C. Baillie and P. Tamayo)

RESEARCH: Computational Biology

  1. 2000: Phylogenetic analysis of the HIV-1 virus leading to an estimate of the time of origin of the modern pandemic. (With T. Bhattacharya, F. Gao, B. Hahn, A. Lapedes, B. Korber, M. Mauldoon, J. Theiler, S. Wolensky)

Contributions to the Development of Parallel Computing

  1. 1981: First proposal for the ``Nearest Neighbor Concurrent Processor'' (with E. Benedictis, E. Brooks, G. C. Fox, O. Martin, S. Otto at Caltech).
  2. 1987: Harnessed the power of the Floating Points Systems T-100 parallel computer at Los Alamos to carry out state of the art simulations of statistical mechanics models. (With J. DeLapp)
  3. 1989: Led Los Alamos's effort to acquire the largest Connection Machine CM-2, and showed that it can be used efficiently to solve a wide class of problems. (With R. Brickner, N. Morse and A. White)
  4. 1988-91: PI on DOE Grand Challenges Awards (also 1992-96, 1997-2000)
  5. 1993: Demonstrated high sustained performance on the Connection Machine CM5 for QCD using a library of hand tuned modules written in assembly language. (With T. Bhattacharya)
  6. 1989- QCD codes developed by us have been used to validate and debug the hardware and software of all high performance parallel computers acquired by Los Alamos since 1989. (With T. Bhattacharya)
  7. 2002: Helped create Institutional Computing as a LANL wide initiative to provide computing resources to LANL scientists. (With A. White)

Mapping and Analysis of Global Energy Systems

  1. 2008-: Created and developed the web based tool Global Energy Observatory (GEO) to promote an understanding, on a global scale, of the dynamics of change in energy systems, quantify emissions and their impacts, and accelerate the transition to carbon-neutral, environmentally benign energy systems while providing affordable energy to all.
  2. 2010-2011: Published analyses of the energy systems of India and of South Asia.
  3. 2012: Six lectures on the future of global energy systems

Research, Education and Advocacy: Public Health

  1. 1999-: Created the website HIV/AIDS Crisis in India to inform the public of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in India and social and political factors contributing to the spread.
  2. 1999-: Developed a program of health education and implemented it in schools and villages in India and in schools and public health institutions in New Mexico.
  3. 2004: Published the monograph ``Risky Sex, Addictions, and Communicable Diseases in India: Implications for Health, Development and Security'' analyzing the HIV/AIDS pandemic in India. Published as Volume 9 in the series on Health and Security by Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, Washington D.C., September 2004.

Community Service and Contributions to Los Alamos

  1. 1999: Member, Search Committee for T-Division Leader at Los Alamos
  2. Divisional Associate Editor, Physical Review Letters ``Particles and Fields'', 2000-2002
  3. 2000: Started the Los Alamos Strategic Studies Program that aims to develop the next generation of broad strategic thinkers on issues of national and international security.
  4. 2000-: Program Manager for High Energy Physics for Los Alamos
  5. 2001-2008: Group Leader for High Energy Physics for Los Alamos (Group T-8)
  6. 2001-: Chair, Director's Colloquium Advisory Committee
  7. 2002-07: Member, Institutional Computing committee
  8. 2003-05: Leader, Advisory group on science to the Director (the A-team)
  9. 2004-05: Leader, energy study group, LAGER (Los Alamos Global Energy Renaissance)
  10. 2006-07: Chair, LANL Energy Council. Developed a strategic plan for Los Alamos's investment in energy security Research and Development.

Organization of Summer Schools and Major Conferences

  1. 1994: Director, Santa Fe Workshop Large Scale Numerical Studies of QCD
  2. 1997: Scientific Director, Les Houches Summer school Probing the Standard Model of Particle Interactions, France, 1997.
  3. 1998: Director, Santa Fe Workshop Perturbative and Non-perturbative Aspects of the Standard Model.
  4. 2000: Organizing committee, XVIII International Symposium Lattice Field Theory,Bangalore, India.
  5. 2000: Director, West Fest Scaling Laws in Physics and Biology, Santa Fe.
  6. 2002: Director, International workshop CONFRONTING TERRORISM - CT2002, Los Alamos National Laboratory. (http://library.lanl.gov/ccw/ct2002/)
  7. 2005: Director, International workshop CONFRONTING TERRORISM -CT2005, Los Alamos National Laboratory.
  8. 2006: Organizer, Socio-technical systems: Bridging the scales, 26th annual CNLS conference, 14-17 August 2006
  9. 2009: Co-organizer, Energy for the 21st Century, 29th Annual CNLS Conference, Santa Fe, May 18-22, 2009
Rajan Gupta