| Description | Matter consists of quarks bound together by gluons. In this reading project, we will try to understand how the mechanical properties of the proton like the mass and spin are built from the interaction of quarks and gluons. |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 3rd year (Semester 5), Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | 7.5 and above |
| Prerequisites | Should have done a course on Dirac equation and quantum mechanics. |
| Duration | 4 months |
| Learning outcome | - |
| Weekly time commitment | Weekly discussion of about one hour |
| General expectations | - |
| Assignment | - |
| Instructions for assignment | - |
| Description | Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is an advance imaging technique in nuclear medicine. The image quality suffers from various types of noises, of which Compton scattering is a major component in degrading the image quality. In the conventional PET, Compton scattered part is carefully estimated and discarded from the main data. With the advent of list-mode data collection, it is possible to isolate the scattered events because the locus of the scattering point lies on a prolate surface. Our idea is to construct images using the scattered events, and later merge them with the main data. So, instead of discarding the scattered data as noise, we can utilize them, thereby improving the signal to noise ratio significantly. |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | 8 and above |
| Prerequisites | Computer programming, C-language, MATLAB, Monte Carlo simulation |
| Duration | 4-5 months |
| Learning outcome | Physics ideas utilized in Biomedical Imaging |
| Weekly time commitment | 5-6 hours |
| General expectations | Academic honesty. The student should be motivated to learn new ideas |
| Assignment |
Link(1) to Assignment
Link(2) to Assignment |
| Instructions for assignment | Physics concepts of Positron emission tomography |
| Description | Polarization is an inherent wave property of the photon, but it is yet to be fully exploited in the medical imaging. In Positron emission tomography, two annihilation photons moving in opposite directions constitute the main data. Interestingly, the two annihilation photons are entangled with orthogonal polarization. It can have far-reaching consequences, especially in filtering the true events. Further, the Compton scattering alters the state of polarization. So, the polarization criterion can be quite effective in recognizing the scattered events. Our idea is to simulate the data with GEANT4 or GATE software and use the polarization criteria to isolate various types of events for image reconstruction |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | 8 and above |
| Prerequisites | Computer programming, C-language, MATLAB, Monte Carlo simulation |
| Duration | 4-5 months |
| Learning outcome | Physics ideas utilized in Biomedical Imaging |
| Weekly time commitment | 5-6 hours |
| General expectations | Academic honesty. The student should be motivated to learn new ideas |
| Assignment | doi:10.1088/0031-9155/59/24/7587 (Phys. Med. Biol. 59 (2014) 7587–7600) |
| Instructions for assignment | Physics concepts of Positron emission tomography |
| Description | This is a large project centered on the search for various high-energy transients in data from the CZTI payload onboard AstroSat - India's first space observatory. These transients are explosions of massive stars or mergers of neutron star black hole systems, billions of light years away. We have various algorithms to search for transients, along with a locally developed interface (developed by students like you!) for examining various light curves to verify if an astrophysical transient is real. The student will work on executing the search regularly, finding new transients, seeking X-ray emission from GRBs, etc. We will also work on the development of a new pipeline that will make our algorithms sensitive to some of the faintest GRBs. We will integrate these algorithms with the interface to streamline the operations and work in close tandem with teams from other institutes. |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 2nd year (Semester 3), Students in their 3rd year (Semester 5), Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | None |
| Prerequisites | Please state explicitly in your SOP which of the requirements you satisfy, and how you propose to catch up to the rest. - Department - Any - Strong coding background (ability to create Python packages) - Astropy, Numpy, SQL (or SQLite or any other database tools) - Good familiarity with Linux and Git is necessary. - Basics of astronomy (Kritiika lectures / KSP / KCAP / popular science level) will help get involved in the details of the work - but broad analytical skills are more important. |
| Duration | 1 year |
| Learning outcome | Expected outcomes from the project are: - Multiple non-refereed publications are expected each month (ATELs, GCNs etc), with the possibility of refereed publications at the end of the project. - Astrophysics: Basic understanding of transients, gamma-ray bursts, electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources - Coding: Data analysis, Astropy, handling fits files, version control, developing code within a large framework, interface development. - Hands-on experience with developing and deploying a user interface |
| Weekly time commitment | 10-15 hours |
| General expectations | This is a two-semester project, with reading work this December. Working on this project in summer is to be decided by mutual agreement, and availability of other opportunities to the student |
| Assignment |
What are GRBs -
Link
The search for fast transients with CZTI - Link |
| Instructions for assignment | Candidates are expected to read and summarize section 4, 5 (and related figures) from the paper linked above in a 1 page document. |
| Description | Gamma-ray bursts are violent explosions in the universe, created by the death of massive stars or the merger of neutron-star binaries. GRBs give out a luminous initial burst called prompt emission, however, the physics behind them is poorly understood. They are explained by various models, which can be differentiated by polarization. Using the new Multi-Mission Maximum Likelihood framework (3ML) - a coherent, intuitive way of integrating multiple missions, we will develop the machinery for joint polarization analysis of POLAR and CZTI instruments which will give us new insights on the possible radiation mechanisms in GRBs. |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 2nd year (Semester 3), Students in their 3rd year (Semester 5), Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | None |
| Prerequisites | Please state explicitly in your SOP which of the requirements you satisfy, and how you propose to catch up to the rest. - Basic astronomy background (Kritiika lectures / KSP / KCAP / popular science level) - Python coding (numpy, scipy, matplotlib. Astropy preferred.) - Knowledge of IDL preferred - Comfortable with linux and command line |
| Duration | 1 year |
| Learning outcome |
- Understanding the GRB physics - Understanding the polarization from the jets through different emission mechanisms - Developing backend codes for integrating multiple GRB polarization missions - Doing a joint polarization analysis with multiple instruments |
| Weekly time commitment | 10-15 hours |
| General expectations | This is a two-semester project, with reading work this December. Working on this project in summer is to be decided by mutual agreement, and availability of other opportunities to the student. There is a strong possibility of a refereed publication resulting from this project. |
| Assignment |
Whar are GRBs -
Link
Synchrotron radiation - Link |
| Instructions for assignment | Candidates should write a page about Gamma Ray Bursts and the radiation processes involved in the prompt emission. In the interview, they should be able to explain what are the types of GRBs, and how the high energy radiation is produced. |
| Description | Gamma ray bursts are violent explosions in the universe that are coming from the death of massive stars or the merger of neutron-star black-hole systems. GRBs gives out a luminous initial burst called prompt emission and late broad band emission called afterglow. Afterglows are modelled as a power law function in time and energy, where the index gives us information about the lorentz factor of electrons in jet, density of interstellar medium, etc. Different space telescopes like AstroSat, Swift, Chandra, Fermi etc observe in different energy ranges: and combining their data gives a complete picture of the broad emission. |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 2nd year (Semester 3), Students in their 3rd year (Semester 5), Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | None |
| Prerequisites |
- Department - any - Basic astronomy background (Kritiika
lectures / KSP / KCAP / popular science level)
- Python coding (numpy, scipy, matplotlib. Astropy preferred.) - Comfortable with linux and command line - Data analysis (fitting curves, extracting parameters, summarising results) |
| Duration | 1 year |
| Learning outcome |
- Developing an understanding of GRBs theory
- Learning spectral and temporal analysis of GRB data - High energy sources data analysis - Setting up standard routines for doing multiple instrument analysis |
| Weekly time commitment | 10-15 hours |
| General expectations | This is a two-semester project, with reading work this December. Working on this project in summer is to be decided by mutual agreement, and availability of other opportunities to the student. The student will be exposed to multiple analyses, and will have opportunities to join refereed publications. |
| Assignment |
What are GRBs -
Link
X-ray afterglow of short GRB 111020A - Link |
| Instructions for assignment | Candidates should write a page about Gamma Ray Bursts and the radiation processes involved in the AFTERGLOW emission. In the interview, they should be able to explain what are the types of GRBs, and how the high energy radiation is produced. They should be able to explain the importance of X-ray followup for determining jet features. |
| Description | Gamma ray bursts are violent explosions in the universe that are coming from the death of massive stars or the merger of neutron-star black-hole systems. GRBs give out a luminous initial burst called prompt emission and late broad band emission called afterglow. The prompt emission is generated by shock accelerated electrons in highly collimated relativistic jets. These jets interact with the surrounding medium to give out afterglow. In this project, we will use afterglowpy - the current, easy to understand, broadband afterglow fitting python package, to estimate jet parameters like total kinetic energy, angular span of the jet, etc and understand the physics behind these emission mechanisms. |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 2nd year (Semester 3), Students in their 3rd year (Semester 5), Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | None |
| Prerequisites |
- Department - any - Basic astronomy background (Kritiika lectures / KSP / KCAP / popular science level) - Python coding (numpy, scipy, matplotlib. Astropy preferred.) - Comfortable with linux and command line - Data analysis (fitting curves, extracting parameters, summarizing results) |
| Duration | 12 months |
| Learning outcome |
- Physics of GRB jets and afterglows, including interaction of
jets with interstellar medium
- Theoretical and analytical interpretation of multi-band lightcurve data - Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) implementation for sampling parameter space |
| Weekly time commitment | 10-15 hours |
| General expectations | This is a two-semester project, with reading work this December. Working on this project in summer is to be decided by mutual agreement, and availability of other opportunities to the student. The student will be exposed to analyses of many sources, and will have opportunities to join refereed publications. |
| Assignment |
What are GRBs -
Link
X-ray afterglow of short GRB 111020A - Link |
| Instructions for assignment | Candidates should write a page about Gamma Ray Bursts and the radiation processes involved in the AFTERGLOW emission. In the interview, they should be able to explain what are the types of GRBs, and how the high energy radiation is produced. They should be able to explain the importance of X-ray followup for determining jet features. |
| Description | Cadmium Zinc Telluride detectors are highly sensitive for detecting hard X-ray photons in the energy range from 20-200 keV. A specific type of these detectors have been used in multiple Indian space missions including AstroSat, Aditya-L1, etc. They will also be used for the proposed IITB-led Daksha space mission ( www.dakshasat.in ). To optimally use these detectors, we need to study them in detail in the lab and measure their performance under varying temperatures. We need to map the conversion of photon energy to an electronic readout, measure electronic noise, and study noisy pixels at various timescales. The CZT detector, composed of N-type semiconductor material, serves the crucial role of detecting high-energy photons within the energy spectrum of 20 to 200 KeV . However, its performance is subject to the influence of electronic noise, crystal impurities, and thermal noise inherent to the system. The Daksha mission will require us to test about 1500 such detectors in the lab. The goal of this project is to lay the foundation of this monumental effort using the state-of-the-art Thermal Chamber and Clean room facilities available at STAR Lab. |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 2nd year (Semester 3), Students in their 3rd year (Semester 5), Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | None |
| Prerequisites |
- Department - Any
- Python (numpy, scipy, matplotlib) - Basic physics background (knowledge of detector physics useful) - Data analysis (fitting curves, extracting parameters, summarizing results) - Must have completed at least one hands-on project related to electronics |
| Duration | 12 months |
| Learning outcome |
- Physics: Detector Physics and its applications in the
context of high-energy photons
- Electronic properties of detectors - Learn how to work in a clean room and program the thermal chamber. - Coding: Data analysis, handling fits files, developing code within a skilled framework, interface development. - Hands-on experience with developing and deploying a user interface |
| Weekly time commitment | 10-15 hours |
| General expectations | This is a two-semester project, with reading work this December. Working on this project in summer is to be decided by mutual agreement, and availability of other opportunities to the student. The project is likely to lead to a refereed publication |
| Assignment |
Youtube lecture on X-ray detectors: Link Daksha space telescope - Link |
| Instructions for assignment | Interested students should view the youtube lecture, on X-ray detectors. Based on that lecture and any other material they wish to refer to, they should write a 1-page summary of how SOLID STATE XRAY DETECTORS work. |
| Description | Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are one of the brightest explosions in the universe, caused by the death of massive stars or the merger of neutron-star black-hole systems. Such mergers also emit gravitational waves (GW) which are ripples in spacetime that can be detected by gravitational wave detectors like LIGO. The Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017 was awarded for the detection of GW from the merger of two black holes. CZTI, a payload onboard AstroSat - India’s first space observatory, regularly detects GRBs that can lead to such gravitational waves detectable in LIGO detectors. In this project, we will set up an end-to-end infrastructure to search for such GW signals that are accompanied by GRBs detected in CZTI. |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 2nd year (Semester 3), Students in their 3rd year (Semester 5), Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | None |
| Prerequisites |
Please state explicitly in your SOP which of the requirements
you satisfy, and how you propose to catch up to the rest.
- Department - Any - Strong coding background (ability to create Python packages) - Astropy, Numpy, SQL (or SQLite or any other database tools) - Good familiarity with Linux and Git is necessary. - Basics of astronomy (Kritiika lectures / KSP / KCAP / popular science level) will help get involved in the details of the work - but broad analytical skills are more important. |
| Duration | 12 months |
| Learning outcome |
The anticipated outcomes from the project include:
- The selected student will have developed an end-to-end infrastructure that will streamline the searches of gravitational wave signals coinciding with GRBs detected with AstroSat CZTI. This will be tested on LIGO clusters, and may even be deployed for regular use by LIGO. - Astrophysics: Basic understanding of transients, electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources, and astrophysical data processing. - Other skills: How to work with a large international team across multiple timezones. Version control in such collaborations. |
| Weekly time commitment | 10-15 hours |
| General expectations | This is a two-semester project, with reading work this December. Working on this project in summer is to be decided by mutual agreement, and availability of other opportunities to the student. The students will have a formal association with the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. |
| Assignment |
Raven is a package that will be extensively used for searching
for coincidences between our AstroSat’s triggers and GW
triggers. Link Go through the examples, and Joint FAR calculation (only for targeted search method) sections of this webpage. (Note that you might not be able to run some codes, that’s okay) |
| Instructions for assignment | Candidates are expected to go through the examples section and the joint FAR calculation section (targeted search). Try to summarize both of them in a 1 page document. |
| Description | IIT Bombay leads the highly ambitious “Daksha” project to build the world’s most sensitive high energy space telescopes for detecting astrophysical transients. In the pursuit of detecting high-energy events in astrophysical objects, we are actively working on enhancing the data readout process. Presently, our setup involves CZT (Cadmium Zinc Telluride) detectors integrated into an FPGA board capable of accommodating up to 20 detectors, forming what is known as the "ME" (Medium Energy Range 20-200 KeV) box. This system is controlled via LABVIEW. The primary goal of this project is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the existing FPGA readout schemes for the ME board and, subsequently, to optimize and improve these schemes |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 2nd year (Semester 3), Students in their 3rd year (Semester 5), Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | None |
| Prerequisites |
- FPGA programming
- Experience in python (numpy, scipy, matplotlib) - Must have completed at least one hands-on project related to electronics - Preference for students who have a major / minor in EE |
| Duration | 12 months |
| Learning outcome |
Expected outcomes from the project are:
- A deeper understanding of FPGA-based data readout systems and their applications in astrophysical research - LABVIEW Skills: Enhanced proficiency in using LABVIEW for instrument control and data analysis - Physics: A broad understanding of detector physics, particularly in the context of high-energy photon detection - Students will get to work with expert engineers from TIFR, RRI, PRL, etc |
| Weekly time commitment | 10-15 hours |
| General expectations | This is a two-semester project, with reading work this December. Working on this project in summer is to be decided by mutual agreement, and availability of other opportunities to the student. |
| Assignment | - |
| Instructions for assignment | Write a description of any project you have done with FPGAs, explicitly stating the nature of your project (course project, research project, hobby...) and your role in it. A 1-page description is enough. |
| Description | The project is focused on the real-time discovery and follow-up of Near Earth Objects (NEOs), such as asteroids and comets, using the GROWTH-India Telescope (GIT). Students will collaborate closely with international partners to analyze data from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) for the identification of new asteroids, which will be reported to the Minor Planet Centre (MPC). By working with GIT, students will gain hands-on experience in real-time target observation to enhance orbital information and confirm the status of these objects as NEOs, ultimately leading to their publication as Minor Planet Electronic Circulars (MPECs). Students can also conduct follow-up observations of known comets to discover their outbursts, contributing to the publication of Astronomer's Telegrams (ATels). Another aim of this project is to improve the GIT in-house Astreaks pipeline, which is employed for processing non-sidereal data. Students will focus on improving the astrometric calculations within the pipeline, with the goals of reducing processing time and developing a more precise method for photometry of asteroids and comets observed by GIT. |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 2nd year (Semester 3), Students in their 3rd year (Semester 5), Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | None |
| Prerequisites |
- Basic astronomy background (Kritiika lectures / KSP / KCAP /
popular science level)
- Python coding (Numpy, Scipy, Matplotlib. OpenCV and Astropy preferred.) - Comfortable with Linux and command line |
| Duration | 12 months |
| Learning outcome |
- Students will get first-hand experience and better
understanding of real time observations from telescopes.
- Students will have the opportunity to observe and discover asteroids, leading to publications. - Students will have the opportunity to lead and/or be a part of publications (GCNs, ATels, Astronote, MPECs, refereed publications) on which they have worked. |
| Weekly time commitment | 10-15 hours |
| General expectations |
- This is a two-semester project, with reading work this
December. Working on this project in summer is to be decided
by mutual agreement, and availability of other opportunities
to the student.
- The student is encouraged to be involved in telescope operations and observation. - The student is encouraged to be involved in nightly observations during transient follow-up - The student is encouraged to participate in optical follow-up studies of Gravitational Wave sources (EMGW events). |
| Assignment |
Read the paper
Link -
Astreaks: Astrometry of NEOs with trailed background stars
or First three modules of GROWTH Astronomy School 2020 - Python Basics, Image Data Reduction, UV, Optical and IR Photometry. Click |
| Instructions for assignment | Write a 1-page summary of the paper, focusing on how we can find the exact coordinates of an asteroid in the sky from "streaked" images. OR Complete the first 3 GROWTH modules (we will check your understanding in an interview) |
| Description | The project aims to develop and improve the image subtraction and source identification (vetting) pipelines for the GROWTH-India Telescope. Students will be responsible for testing and enhancing the image subtraction program to ensure its robustness with more complex data. Regarding vetting, students will work on both analytical and machine learning (ML)-based pipelines for distinguishing between real sources and false positives. This project involves creating datasets for the ML pipeline, injecting real sources, conducting human scans, and comprehensive testing. The pipeline will eventually be integrated into the GIT system, facilitating various transient searches such as identifying novae in the M31 galaxy, discovering Electromagnetic counterparts of Gravitational Waves (EMGW), and detecting Gamma-ray burst afterglows, among others. Students will have the unique opportunity to work at the international level while working on the detection of these transient events. |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 2nd year (Semester 3), Students in their 3rd year (Semester 5), Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | None |
| Prerequisites |
- Astrophysics: Basic knowledge of astronomy, including
telescope basics and coordinate systems (For instance: active
amateur astronomer / PH556 course / Astronomy olympiad camp
etc) - Programming: Familiarity with Linux. Expertise in python including numpy, healpy, astropy, scipy. Basic understanding in ML. - Familar to work with GitHub - Other: Basic statistics |
| Duration | 12 months |
| Learning outcome |
- Astrophysics: Students will have understanding on various
kinds of transients like Supernovae, Kilonovae, Gamma-ray
Bursts, Fast Blue Optical Transients etc.
- Learn data processing of astronomical images at an advanced level. - Coding: advanced astropy and numpy; better coding practices including version control, understanding code integration into larger projects - Have first-hand experience and better understanding of real time observations from telescopes. - Other: how to work with a large international team across multiple time zones - Students will have the opportunity to lead and/or be a part of publications (GCNs, ATels, Astronote, MPECs, refereed publications) on which they have worked. |
| Weekly time commitment | 10-15 hours |
| General expectations |
- This is a two-semester project, with reading work this
December. Working on this project in summer is to be decided
by mutual agreement, and availability of other opportunities
to the student. - The student is encouraged to be involved in telescope operations and observation. - The student is encouraged to be involved in nightly observations during transient follow-up |
| Assignment |
First three modules of GROWTH Astronomy School 2020 - Python
Basics, Image Data Reduction, UV, Optical and IR Photometry.
Link |
| Instructions for assignment | Complete the first 3 GROWTH modules (we will check your understanding in an interview) |
| Description | The goal of the project is to create a front-end dashboard for live observation of the GROWTH-India telescope. The dashboard should enable real-time monitoring of the telescope's operational status and atmospheric conditions. It should also provide a display of both raw telescope data and their corresponding processed results, along with highlighting any errors that may occur during observations. Additionally, the dashboard should feature an interactive interface for searching and examining transient events. The dashboard will play a crucial role in the world famous transient hunt - Electromagnetic Counterpart of Gravitational Wave (EMGW) Events and you as part of the team will actively engage in making real-time decisions regarding time-domain observations. The work completed by the student will be integrated into the GROWTH-India Telescope framework. |
|---|---|
| Number of students | 1 |
| Year of study | Students in their 2nd year (Semester 3), Students in their 3rd year (Semester 5), Students in their 4th/5th year (Semester 7/9) |
| CPI | None |
| Prerequisites |
- Astrophysics: Basic astronomy knowledge will be useful (TV
documentaries / popular articles!) - Programming: Experience with python and databases is a must. Knowledge of flask / django/CSS is preferred. Good familiarity with Linux is necessary. - Other: A background in physics is not necessary for this project. However, Computer geekiness will be useful. - Basic knowledge of GitHub and version control |
| Duration | 12 months |
| Learning outcome |
- Coding: good coding practices, understanding code
integration into larger projects - Other: importance of user interactions in interface designs, hands-on experience with developing and deploying a user interface - The student will gain experience of working in collaboration. - Students will have the opportunity to lead and/or be a part of publications (GCNs, ATels, Astronote, MPECs, refereed publications) on which they have worked |
| Weekly time commitment | 10-15 hours |
| General expectations |
- This is a two-semester project, with reading work this
December. Working on this project in summer is to be decided
by mutual agreement, and availability of other opportunities
to the student. - The student is encouraged to be involved in telescope operations and observation. - Interested students can also participate in monitoring real time observations for time critical objects like Gamma Ray Burst, EMGW, nova, supernova and more. |
| Assignment |
Astropy tutorial on reading a fits file:
Link
Astropy documentation on plotting a fits file with coordinates: Link |
| Instructions for assignment | Complete the two tutorials above. Then use your newfound knowledge to make a nice rendering of this image: Link Attach a Pdf of your output |
Dive deep in the realm of Academic and Industry related research projects
Created with ❤️ by UGAC Web Team, 2023-2024