Dr. Eswaraiah Chakali

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Ramanujan Fellow

Department of Physics, IISER Tirupati

Email: eswaraiahc[at]iisertirupati.ac.in

Phone: +91-9311058069

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  • Research Interests

    • Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics

    • Multi-wavelength dust polarization observations

    • Interstellar medium (ISM)

    • Properties of polarizing dust grains

    • Magnetic fields

    • Turbulence, gravity, and stellar feedback

    • Molecular clouds and dense cores

    • Low- and high-mass star formation

    • Circumstellar environments

    • HI Zeeman splitting experiment

    Briefly, our research involves dust absorption (at optical and near-infrared wavelengths) and dust emission (at sub-millimeter wavelength) polarization observations to delineate magnetic field morphologies at various scales and densities of molecular clouds and star forming regions in the Milky Way Galaxy. It has been shown that the interplay between gravity, turbulence, magnetic field, and stellar feedback is crucial in governing the formation and fragmentation of the molecular clouds, and eventually in dictating the outcome of star formation. However, the relative importance of magnetic fields in comparison to other key agents remains poorly understood. This is partly because of the difficulty in measuring and constraining the magnetic field. Observations acquired from the newly available wide-field and sensitive polarimeters would essentially help us to better understand the role of the magnetic field at low-density regions of molecular clouds to high-density cores. In addition, we are involved in the HI Zeeman splitting experiment to directly measure the line-of-sight component of magnetic field strengths in the molecular clouds. We also study the properties of dust grains at various Galactic environments such as stellar clusters, young stellar objects, and evolved stars.

  • Observing Facilities

      We use the following facilities for our research

    • ARIES Imaging POLarimeter (AIMPOL) of 1.04-m ST, ARIES, India

    • IMaging POLarimeter (IMPOL) of 2-m IGO telescope, IUCAA, India

    • IAGPOL mounted at 0.6-m Boller & Chivens (IAG/USP) telescope, Brazil

    • SIRIUS Camera in POLarimetric mode (SIRPOL) of 1.4-m IRSF telescope, SAAO, South Africa

    • MIMIR instrument of 1.8-m Perkins telescope, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

    • TRI-color imaging POLarimeter (TRIPOL) of 1-m Lulin Optical Telescope (LOT), Taiwan

    • SCUBA-2/POL-2 of JCMT, Hawaii, USA

    • HI Self Absorption Zeeman splitting experiment with FAST, China

    • Other facilities such as ALMA, SOFIA/HAWC+, etc through the existing collaborations

    Educational and Professional Career

    • Ramanujan Fellow (Jul/2021 - present): Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Tirupati, India

    • FAST Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow (FAST Fellow) (Nov/2018 - Jun/2021): National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), Beijing, China

    • Visiting Scientist (Aug/2018 - Oct/2018): Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore, India

    • Postdoctoral Fellow (Aug/2015 - Jul/2018): National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), Hsinchu, Taiwan

    • Postdoctoral Fellow (Nov/2013 - Jul/2015): National Central University (NCU), Jhongli, Taiwan

    • Postdoctoral Fellow (Mar/2013 - Oct/2013): Aryabhatta Research Institute of observational sciencES (ARIES), Nainital, India

    • Ph.D (Mar/2014): Aryabhatta Research Institute of observational sciencES (ARIES), Nainital, India

    • M. Sc (2004 - 2006): Sri Venkateswara University (SVU), Tirupati, India

    • B. Sc (2001 - 2004): Sri Venkateswara University (SVU), Tirupati, India

    Honours and Awards

    • Ramanujan Fellowship Award (Feb/2021): Awarded by Science Engineering and Research Board (SERB), DST, Govt. of India

    • FAST Fellowship (Nov/2018 - Jun/2021): National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), Beijing, China

    • Postdoctoral Fellowship (Aug/2015 - Jul/2018): National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), Hsinchu, Taiwan

    • Postdoctoral Fellowship (Nov/2013 - Jul/2015): National Central University (NCU), Jhongli, Taiwan

    • Junior and Senior Research Fellowships (June/2006 - Mar/2013): Aryabhatta Research Institute of observational sciencES (ARIES), Nainital, India

    • Best Oral Presentation Award (2015): Astronomical Society of Republic of China (ASROC), Taiwan.

    • Joint Entrace Screening Test (JEST-2006): All India 368th Rank

    • National Merit Scholarship for Post SSC (1999): Govt. of Andhra Pradesh (AP), India

    Selected Publications

    • Teaching

    • PHY-315/615: Astrophysics

    • PHY-122: Physics Lab I (virtual)

    Open Positions

    One position for JRF/SRF/RA will be available in our group and will be advertised soon.

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      Last Modified : 29 November 2022 UTC 9:41am