Welcome!

Hi! I am Dr. Sudip K. Garain. I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Physical Sciences, IISER Kolkata. I am also affiliated to CESSI.

I am a computational astrophysicist by training and have deep interest in developing numerical algorithms, writing simulation codes and apply those to relevant physics and astrophysics problems.

My primary research interest is studying the dynamics and radiative properties of astrophysical plasma. I have worked on developing finite volume method based relativistic and non-relativistic MHD codes for modeling astrophysical plasma, Monte Carlo based codes for modeling radiative transfer, and applied these to astrophysical problems such as studying accretion disks around black holes, turbulence in ISM etc.

I have also worked on finite volume method based code development for computational electrodynamics (CED).

Here is my Google Scholar page.

Here is my CV(pdf).

Link to all my Publications(pdf).

Present and past members of our NumAstro Lab.

At present, we are working on the development of 1) general relativistic fluid dynamics solvers and 2) modelling of X-ray polarization using Monte Carlo methods. Interested students wishing to do PhD on these topics and having cleared CSIR-UGC NET(JRF) (or having own fellowship) are encouraged to write to me.

Brief descriptions of these two projects:

1) General relativistic fluid dynamics

Strong gravitational field in the immediate neighborhood of compact objects (e.g., black hole, neutron star or white dwarf) dictates the dynamics of (magnetized or weakly magnetized) fluid motion and leaves it's signature in the observable high energy (gamma-ray, X-ray etc.) radiation. In this work, we wish to build up our own numerical simulation framework using sophisticated numerical algorithms (e.g., ADER, WENO-AO), which will enable us to numerically investigate the fluid dynamics around compact objects.

2) Modelling of X-ray polarization using Monte Carlo

Recent observations show that high energy radiation (X-ray) from sources containing compact objects is polarized. While the observers use polarized radiation to put constraints on the geometry and dynamics of accretion processes, we wish to perform the opposite task. Using our numerically simulated accretion disk configuration, we plan to compute the polarized emission and trace back how disk configuration and polarized emissions are correlated. Since the Monte Carlo based radiative transfer method has the capability of tracking individual photons as they originate and propagate through the accretion disk, such numerical scheme will allow us to properly model the polarized X-ray emission.

Contact: Department of Physical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur - 741 246, WB, India
Phone: +91 (033) 6136 0000 (Ext. 1363)
Email: sgarainATiiserkol(dot)ac(dot)in