INDIAN INSTITUTE OF ASTROPHYSICS

ANNUAL REPORT

2016-2017 Edited by : Prof. S. Muneer (with support from Prof. G. C. Anupama, (Dean, IIA)).

Published on behalf of : The Director, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Sarjapura Road, Bengaluru 560034, INDIA.

Front Cover : Colour composite of NGC 5247, a nearby spiral (SAbc) galaxy, observed with the 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT+HFOSC), Hanle, using broad band filters BVR on June 03, 2016. This galaxy hosted a bright type IIP supernova SN 2016C. Photo Credit : D K Sahu.

Back Cover : The Sun emitted an intense flare near its west limb on November 04, 2015 around 03:25 UT (~09:00 IST). The collage shows the simultaneous observations of the event in X-ray, visible, and radio wavelengths by the Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) on-board ASTROSAT space mission, Kodaikanal H-alpha Telescope, and Gauribidanur RAdio SpectroPolarimeter (GRASP), respectively. Note the X-ray counts recorded in SSM are not from direct observations of the Sun. They correspond to X-rays scattered from the Earth when the latter came in the field of view of SSM during the solar flare. The SSM cameras were facing the Earth at the time of event. Photo Credits : V. Mugundhan, Anshu Kumari, K. Prabhu, Indrajit V. Barve of IIA (H-alpha and radio observations) and M.C.Ramadevi of ISAC-ISRO (SSM observations).

Cover Design by : Sanjiv Gorka Contents

Governing Council (2016–2017) iii

1 The Year In Review 1

2 RESEARCH 4 2.1 TheSunandtheSolarSystem...... 4 2.2 Stellar and Galactic Astrophysics ...... 7 2.3 CosmologyandExtragalacticAstronomy ...... 10 2.4 Theoretical Physics & Astrophysics ...... 13

3 STUDENTPROGRAMSANDTRAININGACTIVITIES 17 3.1 PhDDegreeAwarded...... 17 3.2 PhDThesisSubmitted ...... 18 3.3 CompletionofMTechProgram ...... 18 3.4 School in Physics and Astrophysics ...... 18 3.5 Visiting Students Programme (VSP) ...... 19 3.6 Attendance/ Presentations in Meetings ...... 19 3.7 AwardsandRecognition ...... 24

4 INSTRUMENTS AND FACILITIES 25 4.1 SystemEngineeringGroup(SEG) ...... 25 4.2 Observatories ...... 26 4.2.1 IndianAstronomicalObservatory ...... 26 4.2.2 Centre for Research and Education in Science and Technology (CREST) 29 4.2.3 KodaikanalObservatory ...... 30 4.2.4 VainuBappuObservatory ...... 33 4.2.5 GauribidanurRadioObservatory ...... 35 4.3 Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) ...... 37 4.4 ComputationalFacilities ...... 39 4.5 Library...... 40

5 UPCOMING FACILITIES 42

i 5.1 ThirtyMeterTelescope...... 42 5.2 Visible Emission Line Coronagraph on ADITYA(L1) ...... 43 5.3 NationalLargeSolarTelescope ...... 44

6 PUBLIC OUTREACH 45 6.1 CelebrationofScienceDay...... 45 6.2 OutreachLectureSeries ...... 45 6.3 Students′ VisittoIIAanditsObservatories ...... 46 6.4 IIAStalls ...... 47

7 MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES BY IIA STAFF 48 7.1 Talks given in National/ International Meetings outsideIIA ...... 48 7.2 Awards, Recognition, Professional Membership, Editorshipetc...... 54 7.3 ExternallyFundedProjects ...... 54 7.4 Workshop, Conference, School etc. Organized at IIA or outsideIIA ...... 55 7.5 PopularLectures ...... 55 7.6 PublicCommunication ...... 56 7.7 Involvement with the Scientific Community ...... 57 7.8 OfficialLanguageImplementation(OLI) ...... 58 7.9 Welfare of SC/ST Staff & Physically Challenged ...... 58 7.10 Committee against Sexual Harassment ...... 59

8 PUBLICATIONS 60 8.1 InJournals ...... 60 8.2 ConferenceProceedings...... 67 8.3 Technical Reports, Monographs, Circulars, ATel ...... 69 8.4 Books ...... 69 8.5 PopularArticles...... 70 8.6 HCT Publications by non-IIA Users ...... 70

9 PEOPLE 72

10 AUDITORS’ REPORT & STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 74

ii Governing Council (2016–2017)

Professor Ajit K. Kembhavi Chairman Emeritus Professor IUCAA, Pune

Professor Ashutosh Sharma Member Secretary (Ex-Officio) DST, New-Delhi

Shri. J. B. Mohapatra, IRS Member Joint Secretary & (Ex-Officio) Financial Adviser DST, New Delhi

Dr. P. Sreekumar Member Secretary Director IIA, Bengaluru

Professor N. M. Ashok Member Visiting faculty PRL, Ahmedabad

Professor Prasad Subramanian Member Associate Professor IISER, Pune

Professor Pushpa Khare Member Long term visitor IUCAA, Pune

Professor Sibaji Raha Member Director (until 2016) Bose Institute, Kolkata

Professor Yashwant Gupta Member Dean, GMRT Observatory NCRA, Pune

iii Honorary Fellows

Professor P. Buford Price Physics Department, University California, Berkeley, USA

Professor Sir Arnold W. Wolfendale, FRS Emeritus Professor, Department of Physics, Durham University, UK

Professor D. L. Lambert Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, Austin, USA

Professor B. V. Sreekantan National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru 560 012

Dr. K. Kasturirangan Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru 560 080

†Professor S. Chandrasekhar, Nobel Laureate (1995)

†Professor R. M. Walker (2004)

†Professor Hermann Bondi, FRS (2005)

†Professor V. Radhakrishnan (2011)

†Professor M. G. K. Menon, FRS (2016)

†deceased

iv Institute Functionaries

Director Dr P. Sreekumar [email protected]

Dean Professor G. C. Anupama [email protected]

Chairperson: GC-I: Solar System Studies Professor R. Ramesh [email protected]

Chairperson: GC-II: Stellar & Galactic Astronomy Professor Aruna Goswami [email protected]

Chairperson: GC-III: Theoretical Astrophysics Professor Arun Mangalam [email protected]

v Head: System Engineering Group Mr G. Srinivasulu [email protected]

Chairperson: Board of Graduate Studies Professor R. T. Gangadhara [email protected]

Senior Administrative Officer Dr P. Kumaresan [email protected]

First Appellate Authority Professor R. Ramesh [email protected]

Central Public Information Officer Mr P. K. Mahesh [email protected]

vi Vigilance Officer Professor Bhuwan Chandra Bhatt [email protected]

Chairperson: Internal Complaints Committee against Sexual Harassment Professor Annapurni Subramaniam [email protected]

Chairperson: Grievance Cell Professor Aruna Goswami [email protected]

Chairperson: Outreach Committee Dr C. Kathiravan [email protected]

vii Chapter 1

The Year In Review

Multiwavelength studies of active galaxies and transients continued to be areas of major interest at IIA. I will summarize below some of the major findings that emerged from ac- tivities this year. Our Kodaikanal Observatory′s nearly 100- year long, daily full-disk image plate collec- tion was fully digitized and now made avail- able to scientists around the world. This unique collection, which provides the longest, consistently calibrated data set from a sin- gle observatory, is now being used to study changes across multiple solar cycles in a sys- tematic manner. Simultaneous high resolu- tion observations of the Sun in penumbral and transition regions revealed the presence of micro-jets and bright dots, respectively. The correlation between these new classes of The past year has again been a very pro- events and their contribution to the heat- ductive year for the Indian Institute of Astro- ing of the solar atmosphere are being in- physics. During the academic year 2016–17, vestigated. On the theoretical side, calcu- IIA scientists have contributed significantly lations related to the polarization proper- to solar and stellar studies, modeling efforts, ties of coronal emission lines were developed design and development of astronomical in- and applied to the Fe xiii 10747 A˚ line to struments & facilities and continued to sup- explore its role as a diagnostic of coronal port many critical aspects of existing obser- magnetic fields. EUV observations of the vational facilities. Activities in the area of Sun, revealed outward propagation of jet- solar research covered theoretical, computa- like features which induced transverse oscilla- tional and experimental research related to tions in near-by coronal magnetic field lines. the Sun and solar system. Studies on ex- Our Gauribidanur radioheliograph observa- oplanets, novae, supernovae, and chemical tions yielded a comprehensive picture of how abundance analysis of various types of stars the amplitude of density turbulence and the were some of the topics in which the stel- density modulation index vary with heliocen- lar astronomy group was engaged this year.

1 2 Indian Institute of Astrophysics tric distance in the solar wind, including its than design specification, has enabled high- solar cycle dependence. resolution UV imaging of galaxies and star Three short-period Earth-sized planets clusters. transiting an ultracool dwarf star Trappist-1 In the area of extragalactic astronomy, (12 parsecs away), were discovered using many themes have been pursued including TRAPPIST. Observations taken from the black hole astrophysics, energetics of active HCT contributed significantly in resolving galaxies, magnetic fields in galaxies and cos- the degeneracy of the orbital period of mology. The themes pursued by the theoreti- the third planet. Extensive monitoring of cal astrophysics group include relativistic as- the Transitional Supernovae such as SNe trophysics, magnetic fields, quantum chem- iPTF13ebh and SN 2015bp during the pre- istry, galactic gas dynamics and radiative maximum, maximum and post-maximum transfer theory for the Sun and exoplanets. phase was carried out using HCT. The two A dynamical model of tidal disruption events supernovae were found to be declining faster (TDE) was constructed assuming a time de- than the normal type Ia and producing pendent accretion model, to calculate the rise lesser amount of 56Ni. time and the peak bolometric luminosity in Optical spectroscopic studies of classical terms of physical parameters. Be stars revealed detection of a rare triple- On the large projects at IIA, the Thirty peak Hα emission phase in 59 Cyg, and a Meter Telescope (TMT) consortium in India, rapid decrease in the emission strength of made significant progress on many fronts, in- Hα in OT Gem. Approximately 250 vari- cluding, development of the first prototype able stars were detected in a sample of 23 parts in India and its assembly at the pilot selected globular clusters. Abundance analy- group facility in Pasadena, USA. Its perfor- ses of two newly discovered R Coronae Bore- mance satisfied design requirements. Con- alis (RCB) stars were conducted using high- struction of a large optics fabrication facil- resolution optical spectra and model atmo- ity was started at the CREST campus and spheres. Their chemical compositions place has reached its midway point. The design the pair among the majority class of RCBs. of the Visible Emission Line Coronograph A semi-automated quantitative method was (VELC) payload on Aditya-L1 successfully introduced to estimate the age and redden- went through major reviews at ISRO and the ing of 1072 star clusters in the Large Magel- laboratory model assembly is underway. lanic Cloud (LMC) using the Optical Gravi- A solar H-alpha telescope with a nar- tational Lensing Experiment III survey data. row tunable passband was established at Ko- This study revealed 308 newly parametrized daikanal Observatory in 2014 with capabil- clusters. Early results from the Ultra-Violet ity to generate velocity maps of the full disk; Imaging Telescope (UVIT) on board the AS- a similar system to be installed in Merak, TROSAT observatory, reported the discov- Ladakh, was fully assembled, tested at our ery of a hot companion associated with one CREST campus in Hosakote. The installa- of the blue straggler stars (BSSs) in the tion of the telescope at Merak is expected by old open cluster, NGC 188. The discovery mid 2017 when the more conducive working demonstrated the capability of UVIT to ac- season opens up in Ladakh. IIA has been curately estimate the parameters of binary planning to setup the National Solar Tele- systems, using its filter systems. The ex- scope in Ladakh for a decade. We made cellent angular resolution of UVIT, better good progress this year with the submission Indian Institute of Astrophysics 3 of the revised proposal to DST for funding energy with the installation of a 100 KVA consideration. During this year, substantial solar photo-voltaic system on the roof of the effort has gone into the design of the build- main campus in Bengaluru. With the system ing, dome, additional characterization and connected to the grid, we expect a full return consolidation of data on site, instrument de- on the investment in about 7-8 years and we sign, obtaining Wildlife clearance, etc. We hope to continue this effort at all our filed are very hopeful that formal approval will be stations. The Institute took various steps for provided this academic year to proceed with the implementation of the Official Language this large facility eagerly awaited by solar as- and continued efforts to make equitable work tronomers. environment by safeguarding the interests of SCs, STs, physically-challenged and women. Outreach activities during 2016–17 was en- hanced significantly with the organization of many visits, lectures and programs to involve the school and college students, teachers and the wider public. Our student program continues to flourish with many interesting research activities by students both under PhD(Physics) as well as under the MTech/PhD programs. The over- all research output of the institute remains healthy. Let me close expressing my confi- Figure 1.1: The IHY two element radio in- dence in IIA continuing to uphold its respon- terferometer outreach kit was set up by IIA sibilities on major developmental programs as a part of SCOSTEP / ISWI International and increasing its involvement in high-end Space Science School conducted at Kastur- instrument design for astronomy. I believe bai Walchand college, Sangli, Maharashtra these activities will result in increased scien- during November 7–17, 2016. The function- tific productivity and retain the important ality and observing capability of a basic radio role it plays in leading astronomy research in interferometer was demonstrated to the par- the country. ticipants. P. Sreekumar IIA has taken a big step in the use of green Director Chapter 2

RESEARCH

2.1 The Sun and the Gaussian-like pattern in both the northern and southern hemispheres of the Sun, with Solar System centers at ∼15 degree latitude in the respec- tive hemispheres. But the amplitude of the The sunspots exhibit movement in addition distributions in the two hemispheres are dif- to their apparent change in position due to ferent for any given sunspot cycle. the rotation of the Sun. These sunspot mo- tions are predicted to release energy in the Moving up in the solar atmosphere, high forms of flares due to the reconnection of op- resolution observations reveal the presence positely directed magnetic flux tubes. Data of micro-jets in the penumbral regions of were analyzed to obtain quantitative esti- the sunspots at the chromospheric heights. mates of the motion of sunspots and ver- Simultaneous observations of the overlying ify the association with the duration of the transition regions reveal bright dots that cor- flares. relate with these jet-like features. The rela- tion between these new class of events and their contribution to the heating of the solar atmosphere are being investigated.

Figure 2.1: Butterfly diagram created using the individual sunspot area values (sizes) and their locations obtained from Kodaikanal white-light images. Cycle numbers are also printed on the plot. The solid black line represents the yearly averaged sunspot area (scaled). Figure 2.2: Multi-wavelength observations showing the penumbral micro-jets (PMJ) In a related work, histograms of the latitu- and the bright dots (BD). dinal distribution of the sunspots generated using data from the Kodaikanal Solar Obser- Spectral line observations of the solar vatory (KSO) for nearly 100 years reveal a transition region (between the chromosphere

4 Indian Institute of Astrophysics 5 and the corona) in extreme ultra-violet observations of such oscillations. Estimates (EUV) band often show web-like pattern of the field strength in the loop based on outside sunspot active regions. Analysis these oscillations indicate that the values indicates that the width of the network are in the range ∼3-4 G. Analysis of similar boundaries vary with the solar cycle with a oscillations of a H-alpha filament in the lag of about 10 months. Observations of the lower atmosphere indicates that the lower underlying solar chromosphere in the Ca ii K limit to the field strength in the filament is spectral line indicate that network boundary ∼25 G. width as well as the intensity of the line vary with the solar cycle. Since the width is related to the magnetic flux concentration along the boundaries, these results provide information on the flux transport to the solar surface and the solar cycle. Ca ii K images of the Sun from the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory for a period of about 100 years (∼9 solar cycles) are now available in the digitized form. Work is currently Figure 2.3: (Left panel) EUV observations on to obtain quantitative information on of the coronal loop. (Right panel) Time- the chromospheric network from the data. distance plots showing oscillations of the Interestingly, Ca ii K observations are also loop. good proxy to the UV irradiance which is of geophysical importance. In a parallel work, Constrained estimates of the coronal mag- the sizes of the supergranular cells (one netic field strength (B) using observations of the prominent features in the Ca ii K with the Gauribidanur LOw-frequency Solar images, and outlined by the aforementioned Spectrometer (GLOSS) indicate B varies as network boundary) in the quiescent and r−3.3 in the radial distance (r) range ∼1.63- active regions on the Sun inferred from the 1.76 solar radii, r−2.7 over r ∼1.68-1.91 so- above data set and their variation with the lar radii, and r−1.7 over r ∼2.0-2.4 solar variation with the solar cycle were studied. radii. The value of B associated with a coro- Another set of EUV observations revealed nal mass ejection (CME) was observed us- outward propagation of jet-like features ing data obtained with the GRAPH, and the which induced transverse oscillations in value is ∼1 G in the CME leading edge at a the near-by coronal magnetic field lines heliocentric distance of ∼2.2 solar radii. (i.e. coronal loops). These are the first 6 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

Figure 2.5: (Left panel) Geometry describ- ing the anisotropic illumination of ions in the corona by the photospheric radiation field. (Right panel) Polarization diagram for varying field inclination and a constant field strength of 10 G. Line-of-sight is at a height of 0.5 solar radius above the solar limb. Figure 2.4: A composite of the SOHO/LASCO–C2, SDO/AIA 193 im- The amplitude of the density turbulence ages obtained on 31 March 2014 at 08:36 spectrum (C2 ) and the density modulation UT, and radio contours (up to 50% level) N index (δN/N) in the solar wind between 10 of the moving type IV burst observed that and 45 solar radii was estimated using data day with the GRAPH at 80 MHz. The obtained with the Gauribidanur RAdioheli- enhanced white-light emission to the right ograPH (GRAPH). This yielded a compre- of the radio burst source corresponds to the hensive picture of the: (i) manner in which CME. The white circle (radius = 1 solar C2 and δN/N vary with heliocentric distance radii) at the center indicates the solar limb. N in the solar wind, and (ii) solar cycle depen- The larger concentric gray circle (radius dence of these quantities. Existing theories ∼2.2 solar radii) represents the occulting claim that the scattering of radio waves (and disk of the SOHO/LASCO–C2 coronagraph. the resultant angular broadening of discrete Solar north is up and solar east is to the left radio sources) due to aforementioned den- in the image. The early stage of the CME sity turbulence argues inhibit observations of can be noticed in the SDO/AIA 193 image small scale features in the solar corona, par- also. ticularly at low radio frequencies. But the first ever long baseline observations of the Calculations related to the polarization Sun at low frequencies from Gauribidanur in- properties of coronal emission lines were de- dicate that the above may not be true. Struc- veloped, and the same was applied to the Fe tures of angular size < 1 arc min, consistent ˚ xiii 10747 A line to explore its diagnostic with white light observations during total so- potential of the coronal magnetic field. Sim- lar eclipses, were observed. In the context of ilar work to understand the effect of non- Sun-Earth connection, the near-Earth prop- relativistic, non-monotonic time-dependent erties of a magnetic cloud ejected from the vertical velocity fields on the linearly polar- solar atmosphere, and the associated sunspot ized line profiles formed in semi-empirical at- active region on the Sun were studied. The mospheres were also carried out. Indian Institute of Astrophysics 7 results indicate that the magnetic field lines since discovery. This recurrent nova is re- in the cloud has a constant twist. markable in having a recurrence period of ∼ 1 year only. The HCT spectra showed hy- drogen Balmer lines, and appeared similar to 2.2 Stellar and Galactic that seen in previous eruptions. The FWHM Astrophysics velocity of the Hα line was measured to be ∼ 2900 km/s on Dec 13.58 and ∼ 2700 km/s Studies on exoplanets, novae, supernovae, on Dec 14.55. and chemical abundance analysis of various Photometric and spectroscopic evolution types of stars were some of the topics in of SN 2015bh from discovery to late phases which IIA astronomers engaged this year. (∼ 1 yr after) was studied using data col- Star-like objects with effective tempera- lected from various observing facilities. The tures of less than 2,700 K are referred to as archival images of the host galaxy (NGC ultracool dwarfs. Three short-period Earth- 2770) up to ∼ 21 yr before discovery, re- sized planets transiting an ultracool dwarf vealed a burst ∼ 1 yr before discovery. It star Trappist-1, only 12 parsecs away are dis- is proposed that the transient discovered in covered. The inner two planets receive four early 2015 could be a core-collapse SN ex- times and two times the irradiation of Earth, plosion. The pre-SN luminosity variability respectively, placing them close to the inner history, the long-lasting rise and faintness of edge of the habitable zone of the star. The first light curve peak suggest that the progen- data suggest that 11 orbits remain possible itor was a very massive, unstable and blue for the third planet, the most likely result- star, which exploded as a faint SN because ing in irradiation significantly less than that of severe fallback of material. received by Earth. Transitional SNe iPTF13ebh and SN 2015bp were studied in detail span- ning the pre-maximum, maximum and post-maximum phases. iPTF13ebh and SN 2015bp both showed a decline rate faster than seen in normal type Ia, with ∆m15(B) = 1.79 ± 0.01 and ∆m15(B)=1.72 ± 0.04, respectively. Both objects showed C ii 6580 A˚ feature in the pre-maximum phase. The velocity gradient of the Si ii 6355 A˚ line in the post-maximum epoch placed both iPTF13ebh and SN Figure 2.6: HCT Spectra of the recurrent 2015bp in the FAINT subclass. The re- nova M31N 2008-12a during its 2016 out- spective bolometric light curves indicate the 56 burst. amount of Ni synthesized to be ∼ 0.28 M⊙ in iPTF13ebh and ∼ 0.2 M⊙ in SN 2015bp, The most recent outburst of the recur- and, the ejected mass Mej ∼ 1.26 M⊙ and rent nova M31N 2008-12a in the Andromeda 0.9 M⊙ respectively. galaxy that occurred on 10 December 2016 The analysis of the optical photometric was observed spectroscopically and photo- and spectroscopic data of the supernova metrically with the HCT, on days 3 and 4 ASASSN-14dq obtained with the HCT indi- 8 Indian Institute of Astrophysics cated the supernova to be a type IIP event, Keplerian disk, suggesting that it has a large with a plateau of ∼ 85 days. Preliminary disk. OT Gem is found to have a fractional 56 results indicated ∼ 0.04M⊙ of Ni was critical rotation of ∼0.30, suggesting that it synthesized during the explosion. is either a slow rotator or viewed in low in- The nearby type Ic supernova ASASSN- clination. In OT Gem, a large reduction in 16fp (SN 2016coi) was monitored fairly ex- the radius of the Hα emission region from ∼ tensively with the HCT. The analysis of the 6.9 to ∼ 1.7 was observed in a period of three data obtained during the early phase (−10 to months, along with the reduction in the emis- +33 days with respect to B−maximum) in- sion strength. Observations suggest that the dicates the event to have a slow photometric disk is lost from outside to inside during this evolution, similar to the broad-lined Ic events disk loss phase in OT Gem. such as SN 2002ap and SN 2012ap. How- ever, the expansion velocity at ∼ 16000 km s−1 is lower than that seen in the other two events. Analytical modelling of the quasi- bolometric light curve suggests a kinetic en- ergy of ∼ 7 × 1051 erg, with a total ejected 56 mass estimate of ∼ 4.5 M⊙, and a Ni mass estimate of ∼ 0.1 M⊙. Early results from the Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) on board the AS- TROSAT observatory reported the discovery of a hot companion associated with one of the blue straggler stars (BSSs) in the old open cluster, NGC 188. This object is found to be one of the brightest FUV sources in the cluster. Bigger and more luminous than a white dwarf, yet cooler than a sub-dwarf, the object could be a post-AGB/HB star that has recently transferred its mass to the Figure 2.7: Time series of OT Gem Hα line BSS, which is known to be a rapid rotator. from February to May 2009 obtained using This binary system, which is the first BSS 1.0-m telescope at VBO. Spectra are offset with a post-AGB/HB companion identified and labelled with the observation date, the in an open cluster, is an ideal laboratory to oldest appears at the top and most recent at study the process of BSS formation via mass the bottom. Note that although the spec- transfer. tra are displayed evenly spaced, they are not The optical spectroscopic study of two evenly distributed in time. classical Be stars, 59 Cyg reported detection of a rare triple-peak Hα emission phase in A detailed chemical composition study 59 Cyg and a rapid decrease in the emis- was performed for a sample of four chemi- sion strength of Hα in OT Gem. 59 Cyg cally peculiar stars characterized by s-process is likely to be a rapid rotator, rotating at a enhancement base on high-resolution (R fractional critical rotation of ∼0.80. The ra- ∼ 42000) ELODIE spectra. The stellar dius of the Hα emission region for 59 Cyg is atmospheric parameters, the effective tem- estimated to be Rd/R∗ ∼ 10.0, assuming a Indian Institute of Astrophysics 9

perature Teff , the surface gravity log g and retical model (FRUITY set) only fits part of metallicity [Fe/H] are estimated from local the observations; the s-process observational thermodynamic equilibrium analysis using spread for a fixed metallicity cannot be repro- model atmospheres. Elemental abundances duced. At [Fe/H]> −1, a good fit is found are derived for several neutron-capture when rotation and a different treatment of elements, Sr, Y, Zr, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, the inner boundary of the convective enve- Eu and Dy. While HD 49641 and HD 58368 lope are simultaneously taken into account. show [Ba/Fe] ≥ 1.16, the other two objects The theoretical models are unable to attain HD 119650 and HD 191010 are found to be the large [hs/ls] ratios characterizing the sur- mild barium stars with [Ba/Fe] ∼ 0.4. faces of those objects. The reasons of such a A detailed abundance analysis of a very discrepancy is speculated verifying the pos- metal-poor carbon-enhanced star CD−27 sibility that the observed distributions de- 14351 was performed based on a high resolu- rive from a proton mixing episode leading tion (R ∼ 48,000) FEROS spectrum, using to very high neutron density (the so-called Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) i-process). model atmospheres. Analyses show that the Analyses of high-dispersion spectra of red object is a cool star with stellar atmospheric giant members in the 12 open clusters (OCs) parameters, effective temperature Teff = were performed. The stellar parameters and 4335 K, surface gravity log g = 0.5, micro- chemical abundances for 26 species were de- turbulence = 2.42 km/s, and, metallicity termined for these objects. The radial metal- [Fe/H] = −2.6. The star exhibits high car- licity gradient of OCs is confirmed to be bon and nitrogen abundances with [C/Fe] = steeper (flatter) for Rgc < 12 kpc (>12 kpc). 2.89 and [N/Fe] = 1.89. Overabundances of It was demonstrated that the sample of clus- neutron-capture elements are evident in Ba, ters constituting a steep radial metallicity La, Ce, and Nd with estimated [X/Fe] > 1. gradient of slope −0.052 ± 0.011 dex kpc−1 The first peak s-process elements Sr and Y at Rgc < 12 kpc are younger than 1.5 Gyr are also found to be enhanced with respect and located close to the Galactic mid-plane to Fe, ([Sr/Fe] = 1.73 and [Y/Fe] = 1.91). (kzk < 0.5 kpc) with kinematics typical of Europium, primarily a r-process element the thin disc. The clusters describing a shal- also shows an enhancement with [Eu/Fe] low slope of −0.015 ± 0.007 dex kpc−1 at Rgc = 1.65. With [Ba/Eu] = 0.12 the object > 12 kpc are relatively old, thick disc mem- CD−27 14351 satisfies the classification bers with a striking spread in age and height criterion for CEMP-r/s star. above the mid-plane (0.5

galaxies and their MBH deficit is perhaps due to their lower inclination compared to BLSy1 galaxies. We analyze the spectra of the archival XMM-Newton data of the Seyfert 1 AGN Zw 229.015 and estimate the X-ray emission re- gion to be within 20 gravitational radii of the central supermassive black hole. A seven year study of Mrk 421 indicated the flux to be highly variable across all timescales. A strong correlation was found between the Fermi-LAT (gamma) and radio Figure 2.9: The above figure bands, and between Fermi-LAT and opti- shows the 11.5 GHz EVLA image of cal, but no correlation was found between 2MASXJ12032061+1319316 made with Fermi-LAT and X-ray. A strong correlation with robust=0.5 (natural) weighting. The was seen between the break energy γb of the intensity contours are overlaid and have particle spectrum and the total bolometric 0.0.60, 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80% of luminosity. the peak values of 5.5 mJy. Two dark matter models—Late Forming Dark Matter (LFDM) and Ultra-Light Ax- Bars are global disk instabilities that ion (ULA) models—where the matter power evolve by transferring angular momentum spectra show novel effects on small scales from the inner to outer disks and to the were probed with two cosmological observ- dark matter halo. In this study the effect of ables: the neutral hydrogen (H i) redshifted another spherical component was explored, 21-cm signal from the epoch of reionization, the bulge, on bar formation in disk galaxies. and the evolution of the collapsed fraction of 5 The results indicate that early type disk H i in the redshift range 24×10 (for LFDM) −23 galaxies can still form strong bars in spite of and the axion mass ma > 2.6 × 10 eV (for having massive bulges. ULA). With an aim to detect high redshift The possibility of using the Silk damping blazars, all radio-loud quasars with the induced CMB spectral distortion as a probe radio-loudness parameter greater than 10 of the small scale power was investigated to were searched for the detection of gamma- show that the main impact of alternative rays using about 8 years of Fermi data, models is to alter the sub-horizon evolution and the search led to the discovery of five of the Newtonian potential which affects the gamma-ray emitting blazars with z > 3.1. late-time behavior of spectral distortion of A new catalog of narrow-line Seyfert 1 CMB. (NLSy1) galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky The blazar 3C454.3 exhibited a strong Survey Data Release 12 (SDSS DR12) was flare seen in γ-rays, X-rays, and optical/NIR presented. This catalog contains a total of bands during 3 − 12 December 2009. Emis- 11,101 objects, which is about 5 times larger sion in the V and J bands rose more gradually than the previously known NLSy1 galaxies. than did the γ-rays and soft X-rays, though Our analysis suggests that geometrical effects all peaked at nearly the same time. Optical playing an important role in defining NLSy1 polarization measurements showed dramatic Indian Institute of Astrophysics 13 changes during the flare, with a strong anti- lution as a function of redshift. The core shift correlation between optical flux and degree measurements of AGNs can provide more of polarization (which rose from ∼3% to ∼ precise measurements of the magnetic fields 20%) during the declining phase of the flare. in the sub parsec region near the black hole This combination of behaviors appear to be and its evolution. The low band of SKA-I unique. The cm-band radio data during the will also be useful to study circularly polar- same period show no correlation with vari- ized emission from Sun and comparing var- ations at higher frequencies. Such peculiar ious models of field configurations with ob- behavior may be explained using jet models servations. incorporating fully relativistic effects with a dominant source region moving along a heli- cal path or by a shock-in-jet model incorpo- 2.4 Theoretical Physics & rating three-dimensional radiation transfer if Astrophysics there is a dominant helical magnetic field. Origin of magnetic fields, its structure and The themes that have been pursued include effects on dynamical processes in stars to relativistic astrophysics, magnetic fields, galaxies are not well understood. Lack of quantum chemistry, galactic gas dynamics a direct probe has remained a problem for and radiative transfer theory for the Sun its study. The first phase of Square Kilome- and exoplanets. ter Array (SKA-I), will have almost an or- A dynamical model of tidal disruption der of magnitude higher sensitivity than the events (TDE) was constructed assuming a best existing radio telescope at GHz frequen- time dependent accretion model, to calculate cies. The SKA-I will allow observations of the rise time, the peak bolometric luminosity a large number of background sources with in terms of physical parameters and a typical detectable polarization and measure their light curve of TDEs which is then compared Faraday depths (FDs) through the Milky with the detector sensitivities to obtain the Way, other galaxies and their circum-galactic duration of flare detection. The crucial point mediums. This will probe line-of-sight mag- is that the angular momentum plays an im- netic fields in these objects well and pro- portant role in the stellar dynamical process vide field configurations. A detailed compar- and the accretion process through pericenter ison of observational data (e.g., pitch angles location which impacts the detectable TDE in spirals) with models which consider var- rates; this has not been taken into account in ious processes giving rise to field amplifica- previous calculations. A good fit of the time tion and maintenance (e.g., various types of dependent accretion models to the observa- dynamo models) will then be possible. Ob- tions in X-ray, UV and optical bands is found servations of FDs with redshift will provide as compared to steady accretion models (see important information on magnetic field evo- Fig. 2.10). 14 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

problems. The commensurability (eg. 3:2) is explained within the context of the rela- tivistic formulae that is developed. Low fre- quency QPOs in BHXRBs may also be asso- ciated with jets and can explain helical jets in Schwarzschild geometry by including various Figure 2.10: Left: The time-dependent relativistic effects of gravitational Doppler super-Eddington model (blue) shows good fit shift and light bending effects on the emis- compared to the super-Eddington steady ac- sion. cretion model (purple) to the PS1-10jh ob- servations in g band. The deduced physical parameters for time dependent models are e¯ =0.0001, ℓ =1, M6 =7.5, m =2.65 and black hole spin j = 0.85. Right: The time dependent sub Eddington model fit to the X- ray observation XMMSL1 J061927.1-655311 in X-ray band and the derived parameters are e¯ = 0.00316, ℓ = 0.9, M6 = 3.15, m = 1.77 and black hole spin j =0.15.

The spin and the mass of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) evolve as it grows from a smaller seed mass and the growth is mainly dependent on two processes, gas accretion and consumption of stars. In the case of gas accretion with cooling sources, the flow is momentum driven, after which the black hole reaches a saturated mass and subsequently, it grows only by consumption of stars. The im- pact of the evolution on the spin, the mass of the SMBH and M• − σ relation as a func- tion of redshift in a ΛCDM cosmology was calculated and compared with available ob- servations (see Fig. 2.11). Applying a pro- portionality relation between MBulge and M• to several galaxies a resulting M• − σ rela- tion was found which compares well with the evolutionary model. Black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs) show Quasi-Periodic Oscillations (QPOs), which are the broad peaks in their Fourier power density spectrum. Novel analytic expressions Figure 2.11: Evolution of the spin parame- were derived for general bound orbit trajec- ter, mass and slope of log M• − log σ plot as tories, and for its radial and azimuthal fre- a function of time. quencies that have general utility in various Indian Institute of Astrophysics 15

8 9 to a supermassive black hole (10 − 10 M⊙) by the redshift of 6-7 by Eddington limited accretion of gas around it. To achieve this, the collapsing gas needs a heating mechanism to counter the H2 cooling and avoid fragmentation. In this work, the Figure 2.12: The vertical cross–sections of heating can come from accretion disks normalized poloidal flux function for three around primordial black holes (PBH) which different modes n for R = 100 km and B0 =1 are distributed inside the collapsing dark kG are shown. The contours represent the matter halo and might constitute a good magnetic lines of force in the r−z plane. The fraction (∼ 0.1; given by recent constraints amplitude of the flux function, normalized to on fPBH = ΩPBH /ΩCDM coming from CMB the peak value, is represented by a color bar. data and other observables) of dark matter The horizontal axis is scaled to the radius of for certain mass of the PBH (∼ 10 M⊙). the fluxtube R and the vertical axis is scaled Highly accurate electronic structure calcu- with the pressure scale height, h = 162 km. lations are often needed to supplement scant experimental data. High precision calcula- A single vertical straight magnetic flux- tions for the ground and some selected low tube spanning the solar photosphere and lying excited and ionized states of Pt and its the transition region was constructed. We ions with four component relativistic spinors assume twisted magnetic fields in magne- were performed that establishes the stability tohydrostatic equilibrium within a realistic of its negative ion and reproduces the binding stratified atmosphere subject to solar grav- energy of this state within 10 wavenumber. ity. A family of solutions was derived for The first ionization potential is estimated to reasonable values of the fluxtube radius and be 72005 wavenumber, deviating from the ex- magnetic field strength at the base of the periment by just 200 wavenumber (0.3 per- axis that are the free parameters in our cent). The magnetic hyperfine value of the model (see Fig 2.12). It is found that our ground state of Pt was found to be 5.78 GHz model estimates are consistent with the mag- which is in very good agreement with the ex- netic field strength and the radii of Magnetic perimental data of 5.70 GHz. bright points as estimated from observations Semi-analytic solutions of the nonlinear and simulations. Also, the resulting thermo- force-free field equation were used to con- dynamic quantities inside the fluxtube are struct three-dimensional magnetic fields that found to be in good agreement with obser- are applicable to the solar corona and study vations. their statistical properties for estimating the Primordial black holes (PBH) are the degree of braiding exhibited by these fields. black holes which were formed due to the A new formula for the winding number was direct collapse of sufficiently high over-dense presented and compared with the formula for regions in the universe during the inflation the crossing number. It was concluded that or other early phase transitions in the while conceptually the formulae are nearly universe. It is proposed that a collapsing the same but the resulting distributions cal- 4 gas maintaining its temperature at ∼ 10 K culated for a given topology can be differ- can undergo a rapid collapse resulting into ent. New analytical bounds for the free en- 4 5 a intermediate mass (10 − 10 M⊙) black ergy and relative helicity for the field config- hole by the redshift ∼ 25 which can turn in 16 Indian Institute of Astrophysics urations were derived in terms of the linking A theoretical formulation to solve the number which will be of utility in estimating problem of polarized line formation in the braided energy available for nano-flares magnetized media was made, which includes or for eruptions. both the effects of PRD and the lower level Scattering on a multi-level atomic system polarization for a two-level atom. The study has dominant contributions from resonance shows that the effects are significant only in and Raman scattering. The main result of the line core. such a study is that line-interlocking effects Comparisons of synthetic spectra to produce significant effect on the linear po- observed data clearly imply that most of larization profiles when the wavelength sep- the exo-planets directly imaged to date have arations between the line components of the dusty atmospheres. It is proposed that multiplet are small like in the cases of Mg i exo-moons around self-luminous directly b and Ca i triplets. imaged planets can be detected through time Magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere dependent image polarimetric observation. leave their fingerprints in the polarized spec- It has been demonstrated that time-resolved trum of the Sun via the Hanle and Zeeman image polarimetry can be a potential tool for effects. The partial re-distribution (PRD) detecting planets transiting cloudy L dwarfs idealization of angle-averaged Hanle-Zeeman by the asymmetry induced by a transiting redistribution matrices was compared with Earth-sized planet which gives rise to a the full treatment of angle-dependent PRD, significant amount of disk-integrated linear to indicate when the idealized treatment is polarization which may be detected by inadequate and what kind of polarization ef- existing imaging polarimeters. fects are specific to angle-dependent PRD. Chapter 3

STUDENT PROGRAMS AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES

Student programmes at the Institute are car- of Steller streams in the Galaxy” submitted ried out by the Board of Graduate Studies. to the University of Calicut. She carried out The institute conducts a PhD programme, the above work under the supervision of B. in collaboration with the Pondicherry Uni- Eswar Reddy. versity and an MTech–PhD Programme, in Arun Surya was awarded (on 8 June collaboration with the Calcutta University. 2016) the PhD degree for his thesis ti- Apart from these, the Institute also trains tled “Image Retrieval in Astronomical students through short term programmes Interferometers Affected by Atmospheric such as the visiting students programme, the Turbulence” submitted to the University of summer school and the summer project pro- Calcutta. He carried out the above work gram. The highlights of these programmes under the supervision of S. K. Saha and R. are summarized below. Ramesh. Vaidehi Sharan Paliya was awarded (on 29 August 2016) the PhD degree for his 3.1 PhD Degree Awarded thesis titled “General Physical Characteris- tics of gamma ray Emitting Beamed AGNs Five students were awarded PhD Degree dur- in Fermi Era” submitted to the University ing 2016 – 2017. of Calicut. He carried out the above work Sajal K Dhara was awarded (on 23 May under the supervision of C. S. Stalin. 2016) the PhD degree for his thesis titled Anantha Chanumolu was awarded (on “Radio Polarization Studies of The Solar 28 January 2017) the PhD degree for her the- Corona At Low Frequencies” submitted to sis titled “High Resolution Fibre Fed Echelle the University of Calcutta. He carried out Spectrograph: Calibration and Characterisa- the above work under the supervision of B. tion for Precise Radial Velocities And Chemi- Ravindra. cal Abundances” submitted to the University Ramya P. was awarded (on 26 May 2016) of Calcutta. She carried out the above work the PhD degree for her thesis titled “Study under the supervision of T. Sivarani.

17 18 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

of Calcutta on 16.03.2017. The research Table 3.1: Number of PhDs awarded was done under the supervision of Jayant over the past five years Murthy. Year No. April 2012 – March 2013 2 April 2013 – March 2014 5 3.3 Completion of MTech April 2014 – March 2015 7 April 2015 – March 2016 10 Program

April 2016 – March 2017 5 th Total 29 The following students from the 8 batch of the above programme have completed their MTech Degree under the IIA–CU integrated 3.2 PhD Thesis Submit- MTech–PhD programme. K. Pavan Kumar under the guidance of ted Gajendra Pandey and C. Muthumariappan submitted his MTech thesis titled “Proposed Five students have submitted PhD thesis Optical Designs of the Dual Beam Imaging during 2016 – 2017. Polarimeter for the 1.3-m JCBT” to the Uni- Tarun K Sharma submitted his thesis versity of Calcutta on July 2016. titled “Development of Instruments for As- Aritra Chakraborty under the guidance tronomical Site Characterization and their of K. B. Ramesh submitted his MTech the- Application” to the University of Calcutta sis titled “Instrument Design Consideration on 16.06.2016. The research was done under for the Observation of the Sun at NIR wave- the supervision of P. S. Parihar. lengths (around 1.63 micron)” to the Univer- P. Kishore submitted his thesis titled sity of Calcutta on July 2016. “Development of a Broadband Radio Spec- Souvik Bose under the guidance of K. tropolarimeter for Solar Observations” to the Nagaraju submitted his MTech thesis titled University of Calicut on 04.08.2016. The re- “High–Precision Full Stokes Spectropo- search was done under the supervision of C. larimetery of the Sun–as–a star Instrument Kathiravan. Design Aspects” to the University of C. R. Sangeetha submitted her thesis Calcutta on July 2016. titled “Magnetoconvective Flows and Waves Tanya Das under the guidance of Ravin- in the Lower Solar Atmosphere” to the der K. Banyal submitted her MTech thesis Pondicherry University on 27.01.2016. The titled “Development of a Fabry-Perot Cav- research was done under the supervision of ity Stabilization System” to the University S. P. K. Rajaguru. of Calcutta on July 2016. Tanmoy Samanta submitted his the- sis titled “On the coupling between lower and upper atmosphere of the Sun” to the 3.4 School in Physics and Pondicherry University on 31.01.2017. The Astrophysics research was done under the supervision of Dipankar Benerjee. The summer school in Physics and Astro- Sreejith, A. G. submitted his thesis physics, coordinated by the Board of Gradu- titled “Studies of earth’s atmosphere from ate studies, is a yearly activity of the Indian space and near space” to the University Indian Institute of Astrophysics 19

Institute of Astrophysics. The main objec- 3.5 Visiting Students tive of the school is to introduce students of MSc, BE/BTech degree courses to the field Programme (VSP) of Astronomy and Astrophysics and secondly The visiting student’s internship programme to motivate them to take up research careers is conducted by the Indian Institute of As- in Astronomy and Astrophysics. For the year trophysics (IIA) with an aim to promote sci- 2016, the school was held at the Kodaikanal entific research interest in college and univer- Observatory, during May 20 to June 3. sity students. Students selected for this pro- Twenty four students participated in the gramme work on specific projects that form a school; eight of these students also carried part of ongoing research at IIA. Based on the out short term projects for a duration of nature of the project, the students are asked six weeks during June–July, 2016 under the to work at either the main campus of IIA in guidance of IIA faculty in Bangalore as well Bangalore or its field stations. Students car- as in Kodaikanal observatory. During the rying out their PhD in Universities, and will- last week of the program these students ing to visit IIA for collaborative research are made presentations on the results of their also encouraged to apply for this programme. project works. The program during the During 2016–2017 seventy three students did period May 20 to June 3 in Kodaikanal their projects under the guidance of the var- observatory consisted of a series of lectures ious academic staff members. including Physics and Astrophysics mostly by the faculty members of IIA. The topics covered included observational Astronomy 3.6 Attendance/ Presen- (U. S. Kamath), Sun physics and instru- mentation (K. B. Ramesh, Vema Reddy, tations in Meetings Hemanth Pruthvi), Radiative Processes (R. T. Gangadhara), High Energy Astro- Talks given in national/ interna- physics (C. S. Stalin), Radio Astronomy tional meetings (Kathiravan), Stellar Spectroscopy (Sunetra Giridhar), Star formation, ASTROSAT and Bhoomika UVIT (Annapurni Subramaniam), Galaxies • Variability in Blazar jets through Opti- (Preeti Kharb), MHD (S. P. Rajaguru), cal and GeV observations, January 10th Cosmology (Pravabati Chingangbam), to 13th, 2017, “Wide Band Spectral Stellar and Galactic chemical evolution and Timing Studies of Cosmic X-ray (Aruna Goswami), InfraRed Astronomy (C. Sources” - International conference at Muthumariappan). TIFR. Local arrangements of the school were ef- ficiently done by the staff of the Kodaikanal Joby, P. K Observatory under the guidance of R. Sel- vendran. The school was organized by sum- • Analytic Tensor Minkowski functionals mer school committee with Aruna Goswami and their applications to Cosmology, 18- as the coordinator and U. S. Kamath and C. 20 May 2017, 29th IAGRG meeting, IIT Muthumariappan as members. Guwahati.

Joice Mathew 20 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

• An Ultraviolet imager on a CubeSat Prasanta K Nayak for astronomical transient studies, May 2016, 5th Interplanetary CubeSat Work- • Star Clusters In the Magellanic Clouds- shop, University of Oxford, Oxford, I: Parameterisation and Classification UK. of 1072 Clusters in the LMC, • Development of an Ultraviolet Cosmic – August 8–12, 2016, “Star Clusters: Imager for Space Flight, February From Infancy to Teenagehood”, 2016, National Space Science Sym- Max-Planck Haus, Heidelberg, posium, 2016 held at VSSC, Indian Germany. Space Research Organization (ISRO), – December 5–7, 2016, “Star and Trivandrum. Planet Formation: Insights and Kshama S Kurian Intricacies”, IIST Trivandrum. • Intranight optical variability of Narrow Prerna Rana line Seyfert 1 galaxies, January 10th to 13th, 2017, “Wide Band Spectral • Kinematic models for QPOs in BHBs, and Timing Studies of Cosmic X-ray January 10–13, 2017, “Wide Band Spec- Sources” – International conference at tral and Timing Studies of Cosmic X-ray TIFR. Sources”, TIFR Mumbai. Mugundhan, V • Dynamics of bound orbits in Kerr ge- ometry and QPO frequency ratios, 6–10 • Long-Baseline Interferometric observa- March, 2017, 35th meeting of Astronom- tions of sub-arc minute structures in the ical Society of India (ASI). Solar Corona, March 1–4, 2017, URSI Regional Conference on Radio Sciences, • Relativistic kinematic models for QPOs 2017 at NARL Tirupathi. and jets in black hole systems, 22 March, 2017, IUCAA resource center, Depart- Pavana, M ment of Physics and Astrophysics, Uni- • Jet Triggering Mechanisms in Black versity of Delhi. Hole Sources, Jan 20–23 2016, TIFR, Ramya M Anche Mumbai. Prasanna Deshmukh • Design of an optical layout to mitigate the instrumental polarization due to • A soft Actuator for Prototype Segmented telescope optics of thirty meter tele- Mirror Telescope, June 06, 2016, SPIE scope(TMT), 26–28, November 2016, Student Travel Grant, SPIE AT&I 2016, International conference on light and Edinburgh, UK. light based technologies (ICLLT), Tezpur University, Assam. • Primary mirror active control system simulation of Prototype Segmented Mir- Rubinur Khatun ror Telescope, January 07, 2017, Indian Control Conference 2017, IIT, Guwa- hati. Indian Institute of Astrophysics 21

• Radio Observations of Candidate Dual • Oral presentation, ASI 2016, Srinagar. Active Galactic Nuclei in Double Peaked Emission Line Galaxies, Vaibhav Pant

– May 10–13, 2016, 35th ASI at • August, 2016, IBUKS meeting held at Kashmir University, Kashmir. KU Leuven, Belgium.

– November 3–5, 2016, SKA Varun Kumar Pathfinders Radio Continuum Surveys 2016 at the ICG, Goa. • Design and analysis of planar flexible in- – January 10–13, 2017, Wide Band ductor for segment edge sensing in Seg- Spectral and Timing Studies of mented Mirror Telescopes, ASI – 2017, Cosmic X-ray Sources at TIFR, Jaipur. Mumbai. Vidhya, G Sandeep K Kataria • Tensor Minkowski Functionals as a • 3rd to 14th October 2017, Introductory tool to analyze Cosmic Microwave th school for parallel programming, Inter- Background, October 2016, 5 Neigh- national Center for Theoretical Physics, bourhood Astronomy Meeting at ISRO Trieste, Italy. Head Quarters, Bengaluru.

Snehalata Sahu Poster presentations in na- • UVIT Imaging of Globular Cluster NGC tional/ international meetings 288, 6–10 March, 2017, ASI–2017: B. M. Birla Auditorium, Jaipur. Ambily, S

Sreejith, A. G • Near UV Imager with an MCP-based Photon Counting Detector, SPIE Astro- • January 2017, University of Mas- nomical Instrumentation 2016 at Edin- sachusetts, Lowell, MA, USA. burgh, UK.

• March 2017, University of Calcutta, Amit K Mandal Kolkata. • Determination of the size of the dust Sreekanth Reddy, V torus in H0507+164 through Optical- Infrared monitoring, 6–10 March, 2017, • Optical design and performance model- ASI – 2017: B. M. Birla Auditorium, ing of an adaptive optics module for Jaipur. 1.3-m JCB telescope, November 26–28, 2016, International Conference on Light Annu Jacob and Light based Technologies (ICLLT), 40th conference of optical society of In- • Optics for prototype segmented mirror th dia, Tezpur central university, Assam. telescope, May 2016, 34 meeting of Astronomical society of India, Jammu Susmitha Rani Anthony Kashmir. 22 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

• Pyramid sensor for aligning and phasing Honey, M segmented mirror telescope, March 2017, 35th meeting of Astronomical Society of • NearInfrared Imaging of Barred Low India, Jaipur. Surface Brightness Galaxies, July 11–15, 2016, Munich Joint Conference Avrajit Bandyopadhyay hosted by ESO, Garching, Germany. • Metal poor G-band stars in the Galactic Joice Mathew halo and globular clusters : Exploring the common origin, 10–13 May, 2016, • An Ultraviolet imager to study bright ASI – 2016: Kashmir University, Kash- UV sources, July, 2016, SPIE Astronom- mir. ical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Ed- Bhoomika inburgh, Scotland. • The Connection between Optical and Kshama S Kurian GeV flux Variation in Blazars, 6–10 March 2017, XXXV Meeting of Astro- • AGN and starburst activity in Seyfert nomical Society of India, B. M. Birla galaxies, ASI annual meeting 2017 in Auditorium, Jaipur. BISR, Jaipur. Chayan Mondal T. Mageshwaran

• NGC 300 : Discovery of an extended • Accretion and wind dynamics of tidal young outer disk, 10–13 May, 2016, ASI disruption events, 10–13 May, 2016, ASI – 2016: Kashmir University, Kashmir. – 2016: Kashmir University, Kashmir.

• UVIT imaging of WLM : Understand- • Stellar, accretion and wind dynamics of ing star formation in the dwarf irregular tidal disruption events, 12–16 Septem- galaxy, 6–10 March, 2017, ASI – 2017: ber 2016, IAU symposium 324, Ljubl- B. M. Birla Auditorium, Jaipur. jana, Slovenia. Dipanweeta Bhattachrya Megha, A • M• − σ relation and Galactic Structure, 10–13 May, 2016, ASI – 2016: Kashmir • Coronal Plasma Diagnostics using University, Kashmir. Visible and Near-IR Coronal Emission Lines, May 2016, ASI – 2016, Srinagar. • Evolution of black hole nuclei in ellipti- cals, 6–10 March, 2017, ASI – 2017: MP • Polarized scattering matrix for magnetic Birla Auditorium, Jaipur. dipole transitions, Solar Polarization 8, a workshop in honour of Egidio Landi Hemanth Pruthvi Degl’Innocenti held in Florence, Italy. • Developing scanning-slit spectrograph for imaging the Sun, 26th June – Prasanta K Nayak 1st July, 2016, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2016, Edinburgh, UK. Indian Institute of Astrophysics 23

• Star Clusters In the Magellanic Clouds- • January 2017, 229th AAS meeting, I: Parameterisation and Classification Grapevine, Texas, USA. of 1072 Clusters in the LMC, 10–13 May, 2016, ASI – 2016: Kashmir Uni- Vaibhav Pant versity, Kashmir. • 2017, Astronomical Society of India • Propagation of Cluster Formation in the meeting held at Jaipur, Rajasthan. SMC : Signature of LMC-SMC-MW In- teractions, 6–10 March, 2017, ASI – Varun Kumar 2017: B. M. Birla Auditorium, Jaipur. • Inductive Edge Sensor for Segmented Prolay Krishna Chanda Mirror Telescope, ASI – 2016, Srinagar.

• Recent star formation in outer regions of Attendance in meetings/ work- SMC: TDG in the making?, ASI annual meeting 2017 in BISR, Jaipur. shop

Rubinur Khatun Annu Jacob

• Radio Observations of Candidate Dual • SERB School workshop on optical Active Galactic Nuclei in Double Peaked metrology, June 2016, Tezpur. Emission Line Galaxies, • Thirty Meter Telescope Future leaders, – November 7–11, 2016, SKA2016: 3–7, December, 2016, Hawaii, USA. science for the SKA generation at Anwesh Kumar Mishra the ICG, Goa. – March 6–10, 2017, Astronomical • SERB School on Optical Metrology, Society of India, B. M. Birla Au- June 01–June 21, 2016, Tezpur Univer- ditorium, Jaipur. sity.

Samrat Sen Avinash Surendran

• Model of a flux tube with twisted mag- • 16th Annual International Summer netic fields, 10–13 May, 2016, ASI – School on Adaptive Optics, July 31–Aug 2016: Kashmir University, Kashmir. 5, 2016, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA. Snehalata Sahu • Scalable Generic Adaptive Optics on • Revealing the UV properties of Galac- FPGA, Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) tic Globular Clusters using GALEX Office, Pasadena, California. and HST observations, 10–13 May, 2016, ASI – 2016: Kashmir University, Hemanth Pruthvi Kashmir. • National workshop: Data Intensive Sci- Sreejith, A. G ence, 13th – 18th February, 2017, Pune.

• July 2016, SPIE astronomical telescopes Joby, P. K +instrumentation, Edinburgh, UK. 24 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

• Neighbourhood Astronomy meeting • Best Poster awards in the Extragalactic 2016, 5th October 2016, ISRO HQ and Sun & solar systems categories, re- Bengaluru. spectively, during the 35th Annual Meet- ing of the Astronomical society of India • GIAN course on “Inflation and reheat- held at B. M. Birla Auditorium, Jaipur, ing”, 25–30 November, IIT Madras. during 6–10 March 2017. Mugundhan, V Anshu Kumari

• Kochi ST radar science user’s workshop, • Best Poster award in Instrumentation February 9 & 10, 2017, at ACARR, category, during the 34th Annual Meet- CUSAT. ing of the Astronomical Society of In- dia held at Kashmir University, Srinagar Nirmal, K during May 10–13, 2016. • School on optical metrology, June 1–21, S. S. Panini 2016, Tezpur University. • The OSI best oral presentation award Pavana, M during the XL conference of the Opti- • Data Intensive Science, Feb 13–18 2017, cal Society of India held during Novem- workshop conducted by IUCAA. ber 26–28, 2016 at Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam. Ramya M Anche Ramya M Anche • Thirty Meter Telescope Future leaders, 3–7, December, 2016, Hawaii, United • Best oral presentation award by the States of America. Optical Society of America during the International Conference on Light Sandeep K Kataria and Light Based Technologies held during November 26–28, 2016 at Tezpur • ASI – 2016, 9–13 May 2016, University University, Tezpur, Assam. of Kashmir. Sajal Kumar Dhara • ASI – 2017, 6–10 March 2016, Birla Au- ditorium, Jaipur. • K D Abhyankar Best thesis presentation award, by the Astronomical Society of India (ASI) for the year 2017 during the 3.7 Awards and Recogni- 35th annual meeting of ASI at B. M. tion Birla Auditorium, Jaipur, during 6–10 March 2017. Amit Kumar Mandal Vaibhav Pant Chapter 4

INSTRUMENTS AND FACILITIES

4.1 System Engineering • Andor-LUCA based auto-guiding Group (SEG) instrument made functional in VBT. • A 1000 class clean room facility for The Systems Engineering Group (SEG) pro- CCD systems servicing has been setup vides engineering support to all activities in STARS building of VBO. The vac- in the Institute such as instrument develop- uum failure issues of CCD dewars being ment, maintenance of the observatories and addressed in this facility. laboratories, and augmentation of the facil- ities. The group has been involved in the • Liquid nitrogen dewars for mosaic CCDs major projects like ITMT, VELC payload are developed and tested. development, and proposal of NLST. In the current year, the group has completed the • The grid connected 100 KW SPV sys- following works: tem has been synchronized to the power grid and producing about 500 KWh en- • The Lab for Payload Operations Cen- ergy on a typical day. tre of UVIT and refurbishment of optics laboratory has been completed at Ban- The following works are at various stages of galore campus. completion: • The Hα telescope has been installed and • The Raman Science Centre building at tested in CREST campus before it was Leh and ITCC office building in Banga- shifted to Merak for observations. At lore campus are in completion stage. present the installation work of the tele- scope is in progress. • Upgradation of clean room facility in CREST campus for VELC payload on • Re-aluminization of 2.3-m primary mir- ADITYA mission is in progress. ror of VBT has been successfully com- pleted, re-alignment has been completed • An advance mirror coating facility for recently. HCT telescope has been under installa- tion. • The DIMM telescope and 30′′ telescope in VBO, Kavalur are made operational. • Upgradation of cooling mechanism for Echelle spectrograph in VBT is under • Fabrication and testing of 16′′ telescope progress. for IAO, Hanle.

25 26 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

• The installation of power systems at spectrograph, the HCT now offers, imaging RSC, Leh has been taken up by the (optical and NIR), low/medium resolution group and about to finish the job. spectroscopy (optical and NIR), and optical The group has initiated the following works: high resolution spectroscopy. This has resulted in increase of demand for observing • Construction of ITMT-OFF building time with the HCT. For 2016-Cycle2 (2016 at CREST campus, accommodation for May–August) 39 proposals, 2016-Cycle3 Engineers at IAO, Hanle and student (2016 September–December) 42 proposals hostel facility at Radio astronomy and 2017-Cycle1 (2017 January–April) 46 observatory at Gauribidanur. proposals were received. The telescope time • Modernization of the existing 2.8-m mir- was over subscribed by a factor 2.5 on an ror aluminizing plant at VBO. average, while the dark moon period was over subscribed by a factor 3. • Development of CMOS CCD camera Soon after its installation in 2000, the tele- system. scope is in continuous use by astronomers • Upgradation of the multi-channel photo- and has produced good numbers of research polarimeter. papers in reputed journals. Most of the elec- tronic components of the telescope are get- • The aged dome of 40′′ telescope is taken ting aged, finding spare is difficult and hence up taken up for repairs. the telescope needs to be upgraded. It is planned to upgrade the telescope control sys- • Upgradation of power house in CREST tem and the secondary mirror drive. campus to suite the requirements of ITMT-OFF facility. The preventive maintenance activities of HCT were carried out around full moon pe- • Rewiring and refurbishing VBT control riod, as the demand of telescope time during electronics. bright moon period is usually low. During Day-to-day maintenance and minor works for the monthly preventive maintenance, tele- newly coming up facilities are taken up inter- scope and instruments were inspected and its nally by the group. The group is developing components were cleaned. All the telescope RF instruments for Radio telescopes. The related calibrations and look-up tables were group is also actively involved in student ac- updated periodically. This helps in bring- tivities and public outreach programmes. ing the down-time of the telescope to a min- imum. Annual maintenance of the HCT was carried out during August 15–30, 2016. A 4.2 Observatories thorough inspection and performance evalu- ation of various optical, mechanical, electri- 4.2.1 Indian Astronomical Ob- cal and electronics components were carried servatory out. A team of engineers from IAO and HCT astronomers participated in these activities. Himalayan Chandra Telescope After installation of Hanle Echelle SPec- trometer (HESP), a fibre-fed, high resolution Indian Institute of Astrophysics 27

Gamma Ray Facilities at IAO in 2015. It is being operated continuously to measure direct and diffuse solar irradiance The High Altitude Gamma Ray (HAGAR) at several wavelengths from near UV to NIR observatory, operated jointly by IIA and region. The observed direct and diffuse ir- Tata Institute of Fundamental Research radiance are used to estimate aerosol opti- (TIFR) Mumbai, has been in regular use cal depth, size distribution, single scatter- since 2007. The telescope array has been ing albedo, asymmetry parameters at various used for monitoring supernova remnants, wavelengths. The performance and calibra- active galactic nuclei and other interesting tion of the instrument are performed period- gamma-ray sources. In 2016, a standard ically (every month) using the in-situ obser- calibration method has been set up to vation at the site. calculate time offset of the detectors. This on-line set-up will also monitor the relative gain of each photo-multiplier and the fol- Earth Sciences, Atmospheric lowing signal processing chain in the Data Physics related activities Acquisition System. The setup uses a single laser source (wavelength: 405 nm) coupled Under the Aerosol Radiative Forcing over In- with optical fiber cables of length 85-m dia (ARFI) project of ISRO-GBP, a high alti- which transmit pico-second light flashes tude Himalayan Aerosol Observatory was set from a laser source to all the 49 PMTs. up in 2009 at IAO Hanle by Space Physics The calibration set-up has minimized the Laboratory (SPL), Vikram Sarabhai Space dependency on fixed angle observations Center (VSSC), Trivandrum in collaboration and resulted in an increase of the available with IIA. The aim of the project is to char- observing time by ∼10%. acterize regional aerosols incorporating the The 21-m Major Atmospheric Cerenkov heterogeneity in space, time and spectral do- Experiment (MACE) telescope, being in- mains and its impact on regional and global stalled by Bhabha Atomic Research Center climatology. This observatory, consisting of (BARC) near HAGAR, is nearing com- four instruments, has been in continuous op- pletion. It is planned to install the apex eration for measuring the Solar radiation, portion of boom with camera on the tele- black carbon, nanometer size particles, in- scope structure in the summer of 2017 and cluding identification of new particle forma- the first light with 40 mirrors is expected tion, their dynamics and other relevant pa- towards the end of 2017. rameters. IIA has established two GPS stations at Leh and Hanle as a part of National GPS NLOT site Characterization Network in collaboration with CSIR Fourth Site characterization for NLOT is being con- Paradigm Institute. The same is working fine tinued at Hanle. The extinction monitor and data is being transferred through ftp and and cloud monitor is continuously gathering mail. Air sampling of 1 litre glass flasks is data for documenting the site conditions and being carried out continuously to study the its seasonal variation. The Sky radiometer CO2 as a part of Carbon Dioxide Observa- (PREDE, POM-01, Japan), equipped with tory operated jointly by IIA, CSIR Fourth scanning radiometer, automatic sun tracker Paradigm Institute and Laboratoire des Sci- and rain sensor, was reinstalled at IAO Hanle ences du Climate de lEnvironment (LSCE) France. 28 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

NLST related activities at the NLST project. The automatic weather Merak station is deployed to take data of tempera- ture, pressure, wind speed, direction at three meter and eight meter heights. The data are analyzed and compared at two different heights. The all sky camera is also installed to view the cloud coverage and to find the number of available clear days for observa- tions. The observations of the Sun in G-band using the 40-cm DFM telescope is restarted at Merak. A 100 nm band width G-band filter is used to isolate the 430.5 nm wave- length. A 2K×2K pixel CMOS camera is used to make the partial disk observations of the Sun. These images are used to track the Figure 4.1: Weather station installed at sunspot and magnetic activities on the Sun Merak. The preparations for installing the H- alpha telescope at Merak started during the summer of 2016. The civil work is completed and the telescope will be installed during the summer of 2017.

Figure 4.2: Comparison of temperature at 3-m and 8-m heights. Figure 4.3: Comparison of wind velocity and At Merak, the site characterization activities direction at 3-m and 8-m heights. restarted in the month of November 2016 for Indian Institute of Astrophysics 29

to make the full-disk observations of the so- lar chromosphere in H-alpha wavelength, was installed at CREST during November 2015 to test its functionality. The trial runs of the telescope were carried out. The required tun- ing of hardware was done to improve tracking of the telescope. The control software of the telescope is being written. The performance test of the telescope will be conducted and after confirming its satisfactory performance the telescope will be sent to Merak.

Figure 4.4: The telescope pier and the walls constructed for installation of the H-alpha telescope at Merak.

4.2.2 Centre for Research and Education in Science and Technology (CREST)

Since the HCT is open to users, it’s re- Figure 4.5: The 20-cm H-alpha telescope mote operation is being carried out from during test operation at CREST, Hoskote. CREST Campus, Hoskote. A point-to-point dedicated satellite link between Hoskote and Hanle is used for remote operation of the tele- CSIR- Institute of 4-Paradigm (4PI), Ben- scope and transfer of observed data. The galuru has set up a Green House Gas (GHG) dish antennae used for communication have station in the CREST campus of IIA at almost completed their expected lifetime, re- Hoskote. In 2016, two instruments Picarro placing them with new set of antennae is 2301 measuring CO2, CH4 and LGR mea- planned. suring N2O, CO were installed in a cabin. Construction of Optics Fabrication Facil- This GHG station was inaugurated in Oc- ity for segmented mirrors polishing for TMT tober 2016. This station is also a reference project has been taken with a floor area station, equipped for calibration of secondary of about 25,000 Sqft. and ceiling height cylinders with the primary cylinders supplied of about 10-m. The project involves provi- by NOAA, USA. The primary cylinders are sion of HVAC, clean room facility, lift, EOT as per the standards prescribed by WMO. Crane etc. for the entire facility. The Civil Adjacent to the cabin a 32 meter tower is structural work is continuing. An additional installed. Air inlets are installed at the top power house is also being constructed to ac- of the tower for sucking air into the GHG commodate electrical equipment. Around instruments for measurements and for flask 40% of the project is completed. sampling. The data from the instruments are downloaded to CSIR 4PI regularly. The One of the two 20-cm H-alpha telescopes, GHG data from these instruments will be procured from NIAOT (Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics & Technology) China, used for inversion to estimate GHG fluxes. 30 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

4.2.3 Kodaikanal Observatory a cadence of ∼15 min. The median root- mean-square (rms) image motion and the ′ Fried s parameter (r0), derived from about four months of observations are ∼1.01 arcsec and ∼3.9 cm, respectively. The observations are being continued. In view of the above value of r0, it is planned to implement AO in the I band (900 nm) or in the infrared (1000 nm) in KTT. A dedicated laboratory facil- ity is being set-up at IIA, Bangalore to test/ calibrate the AO components.

Spectro-polarimetric observa- tions of active regions on the Figure 4.6: Histogram of measured r0 values with KTT. Sun with KTT The dual-beam polarimeter at KTT has been Image Quality Monitoring Ex- enabled for spectro-polarimetric observations periments at Kodaikanal Tunnel of the Sun. This involves automatic rotation Telescope (KTT) of the wave-plates, scanning the region of in- terest, and the polarimetric calibration. One In connection with the adaptive optics (AO) of the main goals of this experiment is to in- for the proposed National Large Solar Tele- fer the vector magnetic field simultaneously scope (NLST), it is planned to use KTT as a in the photosphere and the chromosphere us- test bench. As a first step, an experimental ing the magnetic sensitive Fe i line and the set up to measure and monitor image qual- H-alpha line, respectively. The above Fe i ity was installed at KTT in January 2017. line is at 656.92 nm, about 0.6 nm on the A dichroic beam splitter was used to deflect red side of the H-alpha line. the beam sideways, allowing only light less than 600 nm. A suitable combination of neu- Spectroscopic observations of so- tral density filters and blue continuum fil- ters were introduced in the path of the beam lar prominences with KTT just before the focus. A single data set con- Spectroscopic observations of prominences in tained a burst of 200 solar images (of either H-alpha line have been initiated at KTT to a sunspot as and when available or ‘quiet’ understand their physical properties such as Sun region of the photosphere) of size ∼38 temperature, density and velocity distribu- arcsec×38 arcsec with an exposure time of tion. ∼10-20 ms. The data was recorded with Indian Institute of Astrophysics 31

observing programming at the KTT.

Figure 4.8: (Left) Ca-K spectrum observed with the KTT on 2016 December 29 at ∼02:30 UT; (Right) Ca-K line profile aver- aged over the disk.

Whitelight Active Region Moni- Figure 4.7: Raster observations of a promi- tor (WARM) nence obtained with the KTT on 2017 May 9 at ∼02:30 UT. The passband is 0.015 nm WARM is a two channel imaging telescope centered around H-alpha line core. with one channel containing a G-band filter, and the other channel containing a Ca-K fil- ter. A two mirror coelostat system is used Ca-K Latitude Scan – Synoptic to track the Sun. Solar images in the above observations with KTT two wavelength bands are obtained simul- taneously using ANDOR and PCO drivers The Sun as a Star studies provide informa- for MATLAB, with a cadence of ∼1 min. tion about the solar variability with time. The code also controls the shutter unit that The Ca-K line is a proxy to the solar UV ra- shields the cameras. Software for image diation and hence useful for Space Weather reduction (till flat fielding at present) are studies (i.e. the study of the Sun induced also written in MATLAB. DayStar Ca-K line disturbances in the terrestrial and the near- Quantum filter with a central wavelength of Earth environment). Ca-K line profiles as 393.37 nm and a passband of 0.2 nm is used. function of latitude can be used to under- This helps to observe the activities in the stand the solar dynamo and flows in the Sun solar chromosphere. The filter has a sepa- by determining the movement of the activ- rate heating unit to tune the filter system to ity as a function of latitude and time. These the central wavelength. The solar disk is im- observations are very useful in monitoring ac- aged onto a 1024×1024 ANDOR CCD cam- tive belts of the Sun and their variation with era. The resolution of the images is ∼4 arc- the solar cycle. Latitude scanning after inte- sec. The set-up has been implemented from grating the corresponding longitudes on the January 2017. solar disk in Ca-K line is an ongoing synoptic 32 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

H-alpha Telescope Radio Spectral Observations Observations with the new H-alpha telescope Low frequency radio observations are sensi- in Kodaikanal is fully automated now. Full tive to weak non-thermal energy releases in disk images of the solar chromosphere are ob- the solar atmosphere since the associated co- tained every day with a cadence of ∼1 min. herent plasma emission mechanism can give The data are calibrated using codes written rise to very high brightness temperatures. In in Python, and the images are uploaded in view of this, a new radio spectrograph has the institute web server. been installed and commissioned recently in the frequency range 440-40 MHz for coor- dinated observations with the H-alpha tele- Digitization Programme scope. The combined data are expected to provide unique information on the location Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KSO) has as well as the energy budget. been acquiring full disk images of the Sun since early 1900. The images have been taken in three different filters: White-light (photo- sphere), Ca-K (lower chromosphere) and H- alpha (upper chromosphere). Originally, the images have been captured in photographic plates and films. Recently, the digitization of these plates/films, into high resolution stan- dard astronomical images, has been com- pleted for all the three filters. These cen- tury long data sets have also been calibrated (standard flat, bias and rotation corrections) for better scientific use. All the raw files along with the calibrated ones are now hosted at the institute web server for access by the user community. Figure 4.10: Spectrum of a type III solar ra- dio burst observed with the Kodaikanal radio spectrograph on 2017 February 4 at 06:40 UT and the integrated light curve. The temporal and spectral resolutions are ∼1 sec and ∼1 MHz, respectively.

Figure 4.9: Digitized images of the white- light, Ca-K, and H-alpha observations car- ried out on 1958 January 1 at Kodaikanal. Indian Institute of Astrophysics 33

ibrated and made ready for aluminisation.

VBT Primary mirror re- aluminization and subsequent optical/ mechanical alignment Primary mirror aluminisation activity of VBT was taken up during the period Decem- ber 2016 through January 2017 by the optics and mechanical team of IIA. The support system of the primary mirror were tested for their performance by load checking. All the moving parts of support systems (30 axial floating support, three defining supports and 18 radial floating and three Figure 4.11: Kodaikanal H-alpha observa- radial defining support) were lubricated for tions corresponding to Figure 4.10 showing their smooth performance. The levelling of the location of the activity (indicated by the the axial support systems were tested when ‘+’ symbol). Solar north is straight up and the primary mirror cell was in the mirror east is to the left. The integrated light curve carriage unit. After coating of primary along the east-west and north-south direc- mirror, the primary mirror was loaded into tions on the Sun are shown in the lower and the primary mirror cell. Primary mirror left panels, respectively. One can notice that optical/ mechanical axis alignment were the transient is weaker in H-alpha observa- carried out, imaging at prime focus was tions as compared to the radio observations. done with 1K×1K imager (without wynne corrector). On completion of primary mirror align- 4.2.4 Vainu Bappu Observa- ment, secondary mirror was integrated into tory the telescope structure and alignment activ- ity was carried out. Secondary mirror was Reflectivity measurements of loaded into the structure and telescope bal- VBT′s primary ancing was done and then the alignment ac- tivity was started. The location of the center Before the aluminisation of VBT primary of secondary mirror with respect to the me- mirror, the reflectivity of the primary mirror chanical axis was measured with alignment surface was measured with hand held reflec- telescope. But it was corrected to the op- tometer. The reflectivity measurement were tical axis with the alignment telescope us- carried out after cleaning the primary mir- ing auto-collimation. After checking the im- ror with distilled water. As the average re- age quality, OMR spectrograph was mounted flectivity was found below 60% due to the and few standard objects’ spectra were taken degradation in the aluminum material and and compared with the spectra observed (un- the number of pinholes, it was decided to go der similar conditions) prior to aluminisa- for primary mirror aluminisation. The coat- tion activity to quantify the telescope per- ing chamber for VBT primary mirror was cal- formance. 34 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

VBT Echelle′s smart optical ta- The target object is guided using only 4% of ble the incoming beam. Andor LUCA EMCCD (∼0.6 kg) is being used as the camera. With Test on the vibration isolation system of the EM gain the camera could easily detect the optical table of VBT echelle spectrometer in required faintness level and the star could be VBT coud˜elaboratory has been conducted. comfortably guided with minimal exposure The performance of the optical table with time. different environmental conditions were stud- Each pixel is 0.27 arc second and the guid- ied and was found satisfactory. ing performance was: RA ± 2 pixels for 93.9% of the total time New calibration unit for Echelle Dec ± 2 pixels for 93.7% of the total time spectrometer and its upgrada- The guiding implementation is done using Andor Solis program which runs like a macro tion of Solis commands, similar to Twin telescope New fiber launching unit along with a cal- guiding at Kodaikanal. However, there are ibration source unit is designed, fabricated few changes in methodology like threshold- and tested at the prime focus of the VBT. ing and using the values greater this value The new fiber launching unit is designed to for computing centroids. The ‘outbyte’ com- improve the fiber coupling loss and the on- mand in Solis is not operational, which makes fiber guiding error that were present in the the implementation cumbersome. There is earlier fiber launching unit at the prime fo- one ‘execute’ command under Solis to run cus. The calibration unit is decoupled from any command under a DOS prompt which the fiber launching unit. Wavelength cali- was used to operate a parallel port using bration and flat field sources are fed to the Tvicport drivers. Through the parallel port fiber launching unit with the help of calibra- the telescope relays were operated when re- tion fiber by keeping the calibration source quired to be guided. Frequent calling of these unit on a stationary platform. The guiding commands made the computer to crash. A error is improved to 15 to 20% along with the minimum gap of 70 milliseconds is now used auto-guiding mode. to operate the telescope relays. The autogu- iding system after about 40 days of testing, As the part of maintenance, the spec- became fully stable by 10th February and is trometer was realigned and tested with new now satisfactorily working. The guiding is f/ratio converter pre-optics. Iodine cell and initiated for a drift greater or equal to than new slit unit were integrated in the spectrom- 2 pixels (0.54 arcsec) and stopped if the drift eter for radial velocity observations. Study is less than one pixel (0.27 arcsec). A typical on thermal and mechanical stability of the value of 20-50 EM gain with less than 0.5 sec- spectrograph has been initiated. ond exposure time is sufficient to guide 12th star under reasonable sky condition. Autoguider for modified VBT Echelle Acquisition unit DIMM Telescope A new acquisition unit was installed at the The 40 cm DIMM telescope has been up- prime focus of VBT for Echelle Spectrograph graded and put into operation from Decem- (Sriram et al.). The light for the autogu- ider camera comes through a beam splitter. ber 2016 onwards. The telescope had few Indian Institute of Astrophysics 35 problems which were corrected during this at VBT. period. The 1′′ filters present in the DIMM The following programmes were carried have gone bad. A new set of filters could out at JCBT: Tracing H-poor ejecta in the not be accommodated in the existing filter Pne with Wolf-Rayet type central stars, wheel, hence a new filter wheel was fabri- Study of stars spot related activities in cated and installed. Positioning of filters W-UMa, Search for exoplanets in open through Seeing Monitor program was wrong clusters, Intranight variability of AGN, and the Source code was modified to position Photometric survey of star forming region, the filters properly. K2 Parallel monitoring, Differential photom- A GPS receiver module and a UT time etry of eclipsing binaries and cataclysmic synchronizing program have been installed variables, Photometry of supernovae (ToO), since the GPS module in the DFM-TCS sys- and contact binaries, Intranight variability tem had failed. Hour angle information of of MAGN. seeing measurement has been included into The programmes at 1-m telescope were: the R0 log file by modifying the program. Polarimetry of Post-AGB stars, BL Lac ob- The delivered Serial port based Dome shutter jects, Novae, symbiotic stars, Be stars, RV control was erratic and was not suitable for Tauri stars and polarization standard stars remote operation through Intranet. A sim- using a two beam, multichannel polarime- ple and robust Shutter controller was made, ter. Medium resolution spectroscopic obser- installed and the source code was modified vations of Be stars using the UAGS spectro- to operate through DFM-TCS program. graph with a pixis-400 peltier cooled CCD From January 2017, Seeing measurements detector. are being carried out when the clear sky is available. Remote operation was success- 4.2.5 Gauribidanur Radio Ob- fully tried from a remote computer on the Intranet. servatory Gauribidanur RAdioheliograPH Scientific programs carried out (GRAPH) augmentation at the VBO Phase–II of the GRAPH augmentation work Abundance of H poor ejecta in Pne with is currently underway. Once completed, Worf-Rayet type central stars, Medium reso- GRAPH will have the capability to routinely lution spectroscopic studies of IRAS sources produce simultaneous two-dimensional with far-IR colors similar to post-AGB stars images of the solar corona (overlying the and planetary nebulae, High resolution spec- solar disk as well as off the solar limb) troscopic studies on lithium abundances and in total intensity (Stokes I) and circularly rotational velocities of early F-dwarfs, Stud- polarized intensity (Stokes V), for the first ies of hydrogen deficient stars, Character- time at different spot frequencies in the izing the stellar magnetic activity of bright range of ∼120-30 MHz. Such observations planet-host stars, Observations of radial ve- will be useful to estimate the global as locity standards using Iodine-Cell and the well as the localized coronal magnetic Echelle spectrometer, Observations of new field, and their radial variation over the contact binary systems and Observations of heliocentric distance of ∼1-2 solar radii in supernovae and novae were the programmes the solar atmosphere. To achieve this, work 36 Indian Institute of Astrophysics is going on to install 128 new log-periodic dipole antennas (LPDAs) adjacent to the existing similar number of LPDAs in the North-South arm of the GRAPH array. The orientation of the new 128 LPDAs will be orthogonal to the present 128 LPDAs. The 128 LPDAs in each orientation will be arranged as 16 groups, with 8 LPDAs per group. Effectively, there will be 16 groups of LPDAs in 0 deg orientation (with respect to the terrestrial north), and as many groups Figure 4.12: Impedance measurements with of LPDAs in 90 deg orientation. Radio fre- the prototype LPDA designed in-house at quency signal (in the range ∼120-30 MHz) the Gauribidanur observatory. A Voltage from each of these 32 groups of LPDAs Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) of ∼1 corre- will be correlated with the corresponding sponds to a transmission/reception efficiency signal from each of the existing 32 groups of ∼100% (ideal case). VSWR ∼2 indicates of LPDAs (all in 90 deg orientation) in the an efficiency of ∼90%. One can notice that East-West arm of the array using a 4096 the LPDA itself acts as a high pass filter with channel FPGA based correlator system. A cut-off at ∼30 MHz. prototype LPDA that can observe the fre- quency range ∼120-30 MHz was fabricated in-house at the Gauribuidanur observatory to compare its performance with the existing LPDAs since the structural dimensions of the aluminium materials used for fabrication this time were different. The performance of the new LPDA was found to be satisfactory. Mass production of 128 new LPDAs are being carried out in-house at present. Work in connection with mass production and testing of different components of the analog front end receiver are also concurrently going on. On the digital receiver side, Figure 4.13: Radio signatures of flare ac- interleaved sampling and analog-to-digital celerated electrons drifting outwards through (ADC) conversion up to 400 MHz rate has the solar atmosphere along ‘open’ coronal been characterized. The data were stored on magnetic field lines at velocities ∼0.3c ob- BRAMs on a FPGA, and transmitted to the served with the new digital backend receiver computer through a 1-Gbit Ethernet link. under development in Gauribidanur. The Trial observations were carried out using the temporal and spectral resolutions are ∼100 440-40 MHz spectral antenna system. msec and ∼100 kHz, respectively. Note that radio emission at higher frequencies originate closer to the Sun and at an earlier epoch, compared to the radio emission at lower fre- quencies. Indian Institute of Astrophysics 37

Gauribidanur LOw-frequency 4.3 Ultra-Violet Imaging Solar Spectrograph (GLOSS) Telescope (UVIT)

The Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) on board the ASTROSAT, the first Indian space observatory launched on 28 Septem- ber 2015, has been operational for the last 19 months. The first 4 months were dedicated for performance verification and in-orbit cal- ibrations, followed by proposal based obser- vations for about one year. Figure 4.14: Simultaneous GLOSS and The initial results of calibration as well GOES/XRS observations of transient energy as some early science results are published, releases in the solar atmosphere during the while the results of the full calibration for interval ∼02:30-11:30 UT on 2016 May 2. all the filters and gratings in FUV and NUV One can notice that the weak burst observed channels have been submitted for publica- with the GLOSS during the interval 04:00- tion. 04:30 UT (i.e. 4.0-4.5 UT) is not present in The performance of the telescope is mon- the GOES/XRS observations. itored using regular sensitivity checks. The science targets observed during the period in- clude star clusters, galaxies, galaxy clusters, A web portal to access and plot GLOSS data AGN, Chandra deep field, exo-planets, plan- by the user community has been developed. etary nebulae, supernovae remnants etc. A new database model was adopted to run the web based data query and the plotting The overall performance of the instru- tool. DRUPAL web management package ment has been consistent with the calibra- was installed and integrated for this purpose. tions done on the ground. In particular, the A PYTHON code was developed for interac- sensitivity in FUV and NUV is found to be tive plotting of the data obtained simultane- within 80% to 90% of the expected, the spa- ously with the GLOSS, and the soft X-Ray tial resolution in FUV and NUV exceeds the Spectrometer (XRS) onboard the Geosta- expectation, and relative astrometric accu- tionary Operational Environmental Satellite racy over the field is about 0.5 arcsec (rms). (GOES). The motive is to identify weak non- The effective area curves for all the filters thermal energy releases in the solar corona and gratings, and dispersions and resolutions (potential candidates to address the coro- for the gratings are made available in the nal heating problem) to which the low fre- UVIT website, http://uvit.iiap.res.in/ quency radio observations are typically sen- The calibrations for absolute timing accu- sitive, and look for their possible signatures racy are yet to be done, and more data are in the X-ray wavelength range to get a multi- required to fully characterize flat-field vari- wavelength perspective. The tool will be ations for all the filters. The calibrations shortly installed in the institute web server. done as of now are sufficient to derive sci- ence from all observations carried out us- ing UVIT. Some examples of early images obtained from UVIT are given in Figures 4.15–4.17. More images can be found at http://uvit.iiap.res.in/. 38 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

Figure 4.15: False Colour UVIT image of the galaxy NGC 7793, one of the brightest members of the Sculptor group of galaxies. This group is located near the south Galactic Figure 4.17: NGC 1851 is a massive globular pole, at a distance of 3.38 Mpc. The UVIT cluster located in the Southern constellation image shows many bright star forming knots of Columba. It is an unusual cluster specu- throughout the disk. A number of extended lated to be a merger of two individual clus- FUV bright structures are also seen along the ters. It has been known to have a bimodal periphery of the disk. horizontal branch in the H-R diagram. In this colour composite image, the blue dots are the blue horizontal branch stars mostly distributed in the 2-4 arcmin radius of the cluster. These stars have evolved off the red giant branch phase and are now burning he- lium in their cores. Indian as well as international as- tronomers have access to the observing time of ASTROSAT and UVIT through proposals. Certain amount of observing time is also fixed for routine calibration observations.

UVIT–Payload Operations Figure 4.16: False colour composite image of the galaxy Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte (WLM) Centre observed in the FUV and NUV with the The UVIT–payload operations centre UVIT. WLM is a dwarf irregular galaxy lo- (UVIT–POC), operating at the Indian cated at about 995 kpc. The galaxy is known Institute of Astrophysics, is entrusted with as living cosmic fossil as it formed during the early epoch of the Universe and has not in- teracted with any other galaxy. The bright blue sources are the recent star forming re- gions of the galaxy. The point sources seen in the image are the star clusters or stellar groups of the galaxy. Indian Institute of Astrophysics 39 the responsibility of receipt of dump orbit ground region and the time resolution. The wise data as well as merged data sets that UVIT–POC also serves as an one stop lo- pertain to a single observational ID. These cation for all support related to observa- observations referred to as L1 data sets tions with UVIT and analysis of the data are run through custom made software from UVIT. UVIT–POC also regularly hosts to check for the correctness of FILTER UVIT data analysis workshops (to train new keyword. The corrected files are then run users of UVIT) and science meetings to bring through the L2 pipeline chain (developed together users of UVIT to discuss new results jointly by the Space Applications Centre, and plan new important and challenging ob- SAC, Ahmedabad and the National Centre servations to understand the cosmos. To run for Radio Astrophysics, NCRA, Pune) to the day-to-day handling of data coming from produce astronomical images both in pixel UVIT, the UVIT–POC is manned by two re- co-ordinate system as well as astronomical search trainees and two engineering trainees. coordinate system. Quality checks (that take into account of the PSF of the obtained images and the observing time relative to 4.4 Computational Facili- the requested time by the proposers) on ties those images are performed. The corrected L1 data set along with the L2 products Firmware of all critical hardware devices are then transferred to the Indian Space like firewall, switches etc. were updated to Science Data Centre (ISSDC), Bangalore for mitigate security threats, if any. All critical dissemination to the principal investigators servers such as mail server, anti-spam server, of the proposals. The processed L2 prod- web server, ERP server, computational ucts sent to ISSDC from the UVIT-POC servers etc. in the Data Center were kept are science ready images and the PIs can up-to-date by upgrading the software to directly use those images for their respective its latest version or updating with latest science. The status of the L1 data received security patches, to minimize the exposure at UVIT–POC, their processing and subse- to vulnerabilities. To ensure security of quent delivery to ISSDC can be known at internet traffic, we have also implemented http://uvit.iiap.res.in/dataStatus/. SSL certificates across all IIA public servers. Users of UVIT are encouraged Keeping in view of the recent malware to routinely check the website attacks on Windows OS worldwide, IIA http://uvit.iiap.res.in for news and computer center has brought a central- updates. ized anti-virus solution with anti-malware In addition to the routine job of process- features to counter such threats. ing L1 to L2 and sending them to ISSDC, The servers/ hardware infrastructures, UVIT–POC is also involved in developing hosting the critical services were kept up to various software tools that help in UVIT pro- date by replacing the old servers/ hardware posal preparation, access the safely of the with new servers/ hardware when they were field for observations by selection of proper nearing their end of life. Network augmen- FUV, NUV and VIS filters and generation of tation was carried out by installing new light curves of the sources in the field. This generation wireless access points at various light curve generation tool has several op- locations after identifying the locations with tions to choose the source region, the back- weak signal strength (e.g. Bhaskara Hostel). 40 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

RAO, Gauribidanur became one of the first IIA tender requests. remote field stations of IIA to be provided with NKN connectivity after IIA’s proposal, requesting for NKN connectivity at IIA 4.5 Library remote field stations, got approved by NKN. To facilitate better monitoring of Data The Library supports all aspects of research Center and Data Center support system such by providing information resources and con- as PACs and UPS, a new BMS (Building tinued to collaborate with the scientific com- Monitoring System) was procured and put munity to build the collection of books and up in place. e-resources. The Library enhanced its col- lection by adding books, journals, and e- All the above measures were taken to- resources, which includes the centers at Ban- wards strengthening IT security and provid- galore, and field stations. The emphasis is ing better services to the end users at IIA. now given to electronic resources as it facil- itates its use in all campuses, equally and HPC Activities simultaneously. IIA Library continues to be a member of the NKRC consortium and has An order is placed for a new High Perfor- electronic journals and electronic resources mance Computing (HPC) cluster. The new access with 12 major publishers. Library also cluster will replace the existing one which purchases and maintains Hindi books in sup- was installed more than 6 years ago. port of the Official Language Act.

IIA Web server Activities Developmental Activities Migration of IIA web services to a new server During the year the Library Committee was is in the final stages with latest CMS in place. reconstituted, and took up reform of the pro- It is also expected to have better security fea- cedures for collection to ensure the develop- tures and performance along with improved ment of Library materials that support the user experience design. Institution’s mission while the emphasis is now given to need based collection develop- ERP ment. The committee approved the require- ment of three new computers since the ex- An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) isting ones are obsolete, two new ACs and software custom made for IIA has been two de-humidifiers for the archives in the Li- implemented for use within IIA, Bangalore brary, and the new photocopying machine for and its various field stations. Generally, the Library. The committee also reviewed this type of system consists of modules such the existing infrastructure, facilities, soft- as Human Resources, Accounting, Finance, ware, procedures, policies, man power and and Purchase etc. Once implemented, future plans. an ERP system will enable employees to manage resources in all areas, to simulate different scenarios and to obtain real-time Document Delivery Services consolidated information. E-tendering mod- As no Library can be completely self- ule has been successfully implemented in the ERP package to facilitate online response to sufficient, the Library also provides docu- ment delivery service through Inter-Library Indian Institute of Astrophysics 41

Loan. The number of Inter-Library Loan entific community, and also by researchers requests for articles from other institutes nationally and internationally. The present fulfilled by IIA Library was 125 and that archival collection is under the process of of requests of IIA faculty fulfilled by other re-classification and re-arrangement for en- libraries was 80. hanced organization, access, preservation of unique records and also for the better visibil- Institutional Repository ity.

The institutional repository consists of pub- Bibliometric Analysis lications by the scientific and technical com- munity of IIA. During the year research ar- IIA Library has given extensive input to An- ticles, technical reports, PhD theses, and In- nual Reports and DST Reports by submit- tegrated MTech-PhD theses were uploaded ting scientometric analysis of IIA research to the repository. Currently, IIA’s open ac- publications from time to time. cess repository is ranked 853 in the list of top Web of Repositories covered worldwide as of Library Training and Internship January 2017 and contains 6888 records. Programme Archives The Library trainee program is continued and three new trainees joined the Library The historical contents in the archives have and are training to carry out all the Library been used for research purposes by IIA sci- activities. Chapter 5

UPCOMING FACILITIES

5.1 Thirty Meter Tele- manufacturing activity were assembled at pilot group facility, Pasadena, USA, and scope their performance tested against design requirements. Mr. Prasanna Deshmukh India TMT Activities from IIA/India TMT participated in the During this year, project continued its effort assembly and tests in August, 2016. The of securing site for TMT construction. TMT tests carried out warranted minor changes project explored sites in the northern hemi- in the design and process of manufacturing. sphere as alternate sites for TMT project in These are being addressed at various indus- case building TMT in Hawaii is unviable due tries and institutes in the country such as to legal process. One of the sites explored CTTC, Bhuvaneswar, CMTI, Bengaluru, was Hanle, Ladakh for which a detailed re- NCAIR, IIT Mumbai, IPA, Bengaluru, and port was prepared by India TMT team. In partnering institutes. In this period, India October, 2016, TMT board of Governors, af- TMT made serious efforts of identifying ter careful deliberation, identified Observa- capable industry partners for production torio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) qualification for Edge sensors, Actuators, on La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain and SSAs and partners for third party as the primary alternative to Hawaii. How- inspection of hardware parts which is one ever, Mauna Kea continues to be the pre- of the key elements. On the software front, ferred choice. Project is making all efforts Telescope Control Systems (TCS) concept to secure re-permit for Mauna Kea site, and design has been completed in December, in parallel project is working with Spanish 2016, and preliminary design (PD) is under- government to obtain all the required statu- way which is being done by Honeywell India. ary permits to begin construction latest by Preliminary Design (PD) phase of common April, 2017. While waiting for site issue software within the observatory software to be resolved, technical works across part- (OSW) work package contract is being ner countries progressing well though at rel- done at Thoughtworks, Pune. India TMT atively slower phase. team made significant contribution to the design development of WFOS instrument. Within the country, India TMT made The team completed their analysis of spot, good progress on its assigned work pack- sensitivity and distortion maps with real ages. Sub systems such as edge sensors, collimator with two choices of camera for actuators, segment support assembly (SSA) red and blue channel configuration for both and controls developed as part of prototype low/medium resolution spectra.

42 Indian Institute of Astrophysics 43

shop on “High resolution Spectroscopic In- struments for TMT project” was held in Sri- nagar on the sideline of ASI-2016. In Octo- ber 2016, India TMT conducted a one day workshop on infrared instruments for TMT which was attended by about 40 members across institutes in the country and also few experts from Japan. In January 2017, India TMT conducted a two week workshop on sci- ence, instruments and data analysis aspects of TMT project at IUCAA, Pune. This was attended by about 70 MSc and PhD students who were given hands-on programmes on op- Figure 5.1: Assembly of M1 controls (Sen- tical and IR data reduction and analysis . sors, actuators, SSAs) and testing at TMT facility, Pasadena, USA of mirror perfor- mance against design requirements. Most of the hardware was shipped from India.

Another significant development was in the area of segment polishing. The India Figure 5.2: Architecture model of ITOFF TMT Executive Council, in its meeting held (left) and work on progress at CREST, IIA in April 2016, chaired by the Secretaries of (right). DST and DAE, approved the development of a large optics fabrication facility at IIA’s CREST campus. This facility will be used 5.2 Visible Emission Line for the fabrication of ∼90 M1 segments of 1.52-m diameter each. Civil work for the Coronagraph on facility commenced in August, 2016. The ADITYA(L1) facility will house custom built equipment for stress mirror polishing (SMP) a preferred Current Status technique, CNC and CMM machines. Once completed, this facility, also known as India BDR, SRC and PDR reviews are completed TMT Optics Fabrication Facility (ITOFF), and the recommendations of these commit- is expected to cater to the needs of large op- tees have been incorporated in the pay-load. tics fabrication in the country. Fabrication process of different subsystems Apart from engaging in fulfilling the de- are in progress. It is expected to complete livery of hardware and software as our in- the laboratory model by October 2017. This kind contribution to the project, India TMT will enable the team to study the structure is actively working towards development of metrology and pay-load integration schemes. human resources. As part of this vision Changes, if any, will be incorporated in quali- 6 senior PhD and PDF fellows from India fication model. The qualification model is ex- participated in the work shop on “Prepar- pected to be ready by June 2018. The facility ing TMT Future Leaders” held in Decem- augmentation for pay-load integration and ber, 2016, in Hilo, Hawaii. A day long work- 44 Indian Institute of Astrophysics calibration is in progress. Many of the so- Building and Dome Design phisticated metrology instruments have been procured and installed. The design of large The mechanical design of the telescope, dome vacuum facility and the Coronagraph Scatter and rotating platforms are undertaken with Measurement Facility are completed. Instal- the help of mechanical Engineers at IIA. The building concept and design plan are under- lation and commissioning of these systems taken with the civil engineers. The weather are expected to be completed by February station and all sky camera are installed at 2018. the site to get the daily weather conditions at Merak. 5.3 National Large Solar Telescope Detailed Project Report (DPR) The NLST team at IIA reworked on the De- Major milestones are listed below. tailed Project Report of the project and pre- pared a detailed document with Merak as a Clearance from wildlife board site. The team also prepared the report for the Standing Finance Committee of Depart- A letter of approval for the Merak site ment of Science and Technology (DST) and came from Ministry of Defence in the year submitted to the DST. March, 2016. Following this, the NLST team submitted all the necessary documents for the environmental clearance to the Wildlife Endorsement by the IIA Gov- board of Jammu and Kashmir. The stand- erning Council ing committee of state board for Wildlife The IIA Governing Council during its meet- recommended the proposal (18/May/2016). ing on September 15, 2016 & February 14, The state board for Wildlife forwarded the 2017, reviewed the project and recommended application with recommendation to the it for funding. National Board for Wildlife, New Delhi. The standing committee of National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) conducted a meeting Endorsement by the Mega Facil- nd on March 2 2017 in Indira Paryavaran ities for Basic Research Bhavan, New Delhi. The proposal was put in front of the standing committee of NBWL. The permission from the Ministry of Defence The standing committee recommended the has been received for the availability of the proposal for the utilization of 7.6 ha forest Merak site in Ladakh for the large telescope land from Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife set up. The committee recommended with Sanctuary for establishment of National necessary budgetary provision for creating Large Solar Telescope. Large Solar Telescope Facility at Merak as early as possible. Chapter 6

PUBLIC OUTREACH

6.1 Celebration of Kavalur and KSO, Kodaikanal, respectively. The number of student participants in each Science Day observatory was around 150. Extensive sky-watch programs were arranged at both National Science day 2017 was celebrated the places. School children and the public at IIA on February 28, 2017. Programmes were encouraged to observe the night-sky. were also organized at all the field stations on the occasion. The students observed the Sun with a Coelostat set-up, followed by visits to the Optics Division, and the IC- NAPP lounge where various science exper- iments were kept. Prof. Mousumi Das gave a lecture on ‘Galaxies’. Competitions such as drawing and painting, essay writing, quiz were conducted for the school children. About 150 students participated in the pro- grams; Astronomy books and kits were given as prizes to the winners of competitions. In the evening a public lecture was arranged. Prof. Annapurni Subramanian gave a talk Figure 6.1: Participants of the National Sci- on the topic, ‘How the Indian space obser- ence Day at CREST Campus, Hoskote. vatory discovered the making of a Vampire star’, to highlight the scientific results ob- tained using the ASTROSAT / UVIT obser- vations. A sky-watch session was arranged 6.2 Outreach Lecture for the public in the late evening. Series Prof. B. C. Bhatt at CREST campus, Hoskote and Sri. Dorje Angchuk at IAO, The public outreach committee organized Hanle, delivered scientific presentations to a series of lectures named ‘The Journey the visiting school children. About 100 through the Universe’ on every Saturday students at each location from the nearby afternoon starting from February, 2017. schools took part in the programs. The lab College students with science, engineering facilities in CREST campus were shown to and arts curriculum were encouraged to the school children. Prof. Muthumariappan attend the lectures. Professor G. Srinivasan and Dr. Ebenezer gave talks at VBO, 45 46 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

science school held at Kasturbai Walc- hand college, Sangli, Maharashtra.

(c) KSO, Kodaikanal As Kodaikanal is a well known tourist place, it attracts thousands of visitors to KSO museum. During April - June and December - January, the museum was visited by about 10,000 people per Figure 6.2: Students of SJCIT Engi- month. During the above months, the neering college visiting GRO. museum was functioning continuously on all days. delivered about sixteen lectures until March (d) VBO, Kavalur 31, 2017. Topics such as the Sun, planetary Night sky-watch program was contin- systems, stars, etc. were covered very exten- ued as usual on every Saturday when- sively. Hundreds of students who attended ever the sky was clear. A total number those lectures appreciated the program very of 10,455 persons visited VBO. This in- much. cluded groups from 27 schools (1693 stu- dents), 18 colleges (997 students), 2 sci- 6.3 Students′ Visit to IIA ence forum groups, MPBIFR, students from Aryabhat Foundation, Bhopal etc. and its Observatories REAP students visited VBO in batches. Under the school student awareness pro- gram conducted by Education Dept. of (a) IIA Dharmapuri district, about 800 school About 350 students from various schools students visited VBO in four batches. and colleges visited IIA during the cur- rent academic year. For each visit, a Prof. Rajaram Nithiyanda, former di- tour to Photonics division, a poster ses- rector of NCRA, stayed at VBO from th th sion to introduce about the observing fa- 6 to 10 June and delivered two talks cilities, and a talk by one of the faculty titled ‘The Story of Radio Astronomy members were arranged. and the GMRT’ and ‘The Six faces of S. Chandrasekhar’ to VBO staff. (b) GRO, Gauribidanur The 89th Birth anniversary of Prof. M. About 250 students from six Engi- K. Vainu Bappu was celebrated on 10th neering colleges visited Gauribidanur August, 2016. Selected students from observatory. They were explained about five colleges were invited to attend the the functionality of the radio telescopes, function. Fifty two students and eight analog and digital receivers. teachers participated. Prof. Sunetra The two-element radio interferometer Giridhar gave a talk on ‘Stellar Spec- kit which was designed at Gauribidanur troscopy’ in the morning session. A observatory for the outreach activity Speech competition (related to Astron- was taken for a demo during the omy) was held in the afternoon followed SCOSTEP / ISWI International space by visit to telescope facilities. Indian Institute of Astrophysics 47

6.4 IIA Stalls (b) Federal Institute of Science And Technology, Ernakulam The Institute had put up its stalls in the fol- The Federal Institute of Science lowing public outreach events: and Technology (FISAT), Angamaly, Ernakulam had conducted ‘FISAT (a) Indian Science Congress, Tirupati International Space Olympiad 2016’ on IIA took part in the 104th Indian Sci- 27th and 28th of January, 2017 as part ence Congress held at Sri Venkateswara of a 30 day (January 27, 2017–February University, Tirupati during January 3– 28, 2017) national science day celebra- 7, 2017. A stall was allotted by DST tions. IIA had collaborated with FISAT in its pavilion to showcase our exhibits. and kept stalls to demonstrate about The basic principles of operation of op- ‘Balloon based UV experiments’, to tical telescopes, the model of UVIT, explain a poster session (with a theme the upcoming Indian space missions and on IIA’s research and developmental TMT, etc. were shown to school, col- programs, students internship and PhD lege students and to the general pub- programs, IIA’s existing and upcoming lic. In addition, the observational fa- ground- and space-based observing fa- cilities of IIA, research and computa- cilities) and a sky-watch program. Prof. tional facilities available at IIA were ex- Jayant Murthy and Prof. Muthumari- plained to college students to motivate appan gave talks on ‘Extra-terrestrial them to pursue their career in Astron- intelligence’ and ‘Interstellar medium, omy. About 10,000 people had vis- respectively. About 1500 students from ited our stall and the interested school, schools and colleges in and around college students and the general public Ernakulam participated in the events. were given IIA brochures to highlight about our research and developmental (c) Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, activities at our Institute in the field of Bangalore astronomy and astrophysics. Based on the discussions between the Directors of IIA and JN planetarium, it was decided to showcase the models of UVIT and IAO for the inauguration of JN planetarium after it was renovated and installed with new projectors. The honorable chief minister of Karnataka had inaugurated the planetarium on January 17, 2017. Our Engineers and PhD scholars volunteered on that day and for the next few days to explain our exhibits and posters to the visitors. The exhibits were displayed in JNP hall/ lounge for the next few months Figure 6.3: The IIA stall at the Indian continuously for the public. Science Congress, Tirupati. Chapter 7

MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES BY IIA STAFF

7.1 Talks given in Na- • MHD Waves in coronal Holes, 1 September 2016, SOLARNET5, Queens University of tional/ International Belfast, UK.

Meetings outside IIA • Simultaneous longitudinal and transverse oscillations in active region filament, 16 Invited: January 2017, ISSI EC workshop at Bei- jing, China. G. C. Anupama • GROWTH – India, July 25-28, 2017, • Study of waves from Aditya L1 mission and Annual GROWTH Conference, Caltech, NLST, 30 March 2017, ISSI, Bern, Switzer- Pasadena, U.S.A. land. • Ground Based Facilities for Exoplanet R. K. Chaudhuri Studies: What IIA has to Offer, March 5, 2017, ASI Workshop on Exoplanets, • Viewing the ground and excited elec- Jaipur. tronic structures through the window of coupled cluster method, 18/01/2017, • Time Domain Astronomy (2 lectures), 18, Vidyasagar-Satyendranath Bose National 19 January 2017, TMT training school on Workshop 2017 on Nuclear and Astro- observational astronomy, IUCAA, Pune. physics, Vidyasagar University, Midnapur, • Time Domain Astronomy – Explosive West Bengal. Transients, 4–7 November 2017, An- M. Das nual Meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bhopal. • Star Formation in Galaxies, February 03, D. Banerjee 2017, Workshop on Stellar Astrophysics, Christ University, Bangalore. • Small Scale Transients as seen from IRIS, spectroscopic signature, 15 April 2016, IRIS • Star Formation in Galaxies, 20–23 Febru- 7 workshop at Shandong University, Wei- ary 2017, Winter School in Astronomy, hai, Shandong, China. Birla Science Center, Hyderabad. • Small scale transients and their role in the • Dual AGN in Galaxy Merger Remnants, generation of waves, 13 June 2016, IBUKS, October 05, 2016, Neighbourhood Astron- Leuven, Belgium. omy Meeting (NAM), Bangalore.

48 Indian Institute of Astrophysics 49

S. Das • Introduction to radio telescopes, 21/02/2017, Coronal and Interplane- • Astrophysical Constraints on non-wimp tary shocks: Data analysis from SOHO, dark matter, 19/01/2017, Aspect of early Wind and e-CALLISTO data & Mekelle universe cosmology, SINP, Kolkata. University, Ethiopia. R. T. Gangadhara • Solar radio astronomy, 23/02/2017, Coro- • Pulsar Radio Emission and Polarization, nal and Interplanetary shocks: Data anal- 6–13 January, 2016, Neutron Stars: A ysis from SOHO, Wind and e-CALLISTO Pathfinder Workshop, NCRA-TIFR, Pune. data & Mekelle University, Ethiopia.

• Pulsar Radio Emission Mechanism, June A. Mangalam 15–17, 2016, Workshop on Science with the uGMRT, NCRA-TIFR, Pune. • Models of Tidal Disruption Events and Comparison with Observations, 15–18 S. Giridhar November 2016, First BINA Workshop, • Hanle Echelle Spectrograph an echelle Nainital. Spectrograph for 2-m HCT: System description and early science results, • A model for jet polarization and emission 30-3-2017, NESSEMA at Pt. Ravishankar in blazars, January 10–13, 2017, at “Wide University Raipur (Ch). Band Spectral and Timing Studies of Cos- mic X-ray Sources”, TIFR Mumbai. A. Goswami K. N. Nagendra • The case of precise abundance, May 9, 2016, Workshop on high resolution optical • Polarized Line Formation: Methods and spectroscopy, ASI–2016, Srinagar. Solutions, September 13, 2016, Interna- U. S. Kamath tional Conference on “Solar Polarization 8”, held in Florence, Italy. • MIR Imager for the 2-m Himalayan Chan- dra Telescope, 18 October 2016, TMT– V. Panditi MICHI Workshop at TIFR Balloon Facility (Hyderabad). • Magnetic Flux ropes from the Sun, 10- Nov-2016, SCOSTEP/ISWI international • Optical and NIR observations of eruptive school, Sangli, Maharashtra. young stars, 5–7 December 2016, Star and Planet Formation : Insights and Intricacies • Sun-Earth connection of CME magnetic at IIST (Thiruvananthapuram). flux ropes, 5-Oct-2016, ISRO HQ, Ben- galuru. C. Kathiravan

• Radio physics of the Sun – Part - I, II & T. P. Prabhu III, 12/11/2016, SCOSTEP / ISWI ISSS & Smt. Kasturbai Walchand college, Sangli, • Observational Facilities for Astronomy in Maharashtra. India, 2016 October 1, 100 hour Certificate Course in Astronomy and Astrophysics, • Hands-on session : Two element radio MP Birla Institute of Fundamental interferometer, 14/11/2016, SCOSTEP / Research, Bangalore. ISWI ISSS & Smt. Kasturbai Walchand college, Sangli, Maharashtra. S. Sengupta 50 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

• Exoplanets–The fascinating new customers • Galaxy Outflows without Supernovae, 12th for Astronomers, March 06, 2017, New Ini- May 2016, ASI 2016, Srinagar University. tiatives in the field of Exoplanetary Science • High Performance computing in astrophys- in India, XXXV Meeting of Astronomical th Society of India B. M. Birla Auditorium, ical turbulence and magnetic fields, 9 Jaipur. September 2016, NKN – Garuda Partners Meet, NIAS Bangalore. P. Sreekumar

• Presentation to the visiting Parliamentary Contributed: Committee on Papers Laid on the Table, R. Banyal Rajya Sabha, 29th September 2016, Ben- galuru. • References for precision wavelength cali- bration: Etalons and Laser Combs, 09- • Special meeting on Exoplanets at Ko- 05-2016, Tools and trends in high resolu- daikanal Observatory, 6–8 October, 2016, tion optical spectroscopy, ASI, University organised jointly by IIA and ISRO. of Kashmir, Srinagar. • X-ray imaging in Astrophysics, February 2, • FP wavelength calibration and thermo- 2017, Christ University talk at IUCAA As- optical studies of 2-m class lightweighted tronomy Workshop. mirror, 18-10-2016, MICHI workshop, • X-ray instrumentation for Space Payloads, TIFR Hyderabad campus. March 13, 2017, Space Physics Laboratory, • Advancing Scientific Temper, 10-06-2017, VSSC. Science for Gender Equality and Social Jus- C. S. Stalin tice, Kannada University, Hampi.

• Extragalactic Astronomy, 15 February B. C. Bhatt 2017, Meenakshi College Madurai. • International Conference on “Instrumen- • Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies and their tation and Science with 3.6-m DOT and multi-wavelength properties, 10–13 January 4.0-m ILMT Telescopes”, November 15–18, 2017, Wide band spectral and timing stud- 2016, Aryabhatta Research Institute of Ob- ies of cosmic X-ray sources, TIFR, Mum- servational Sciences, Nainital. bai. M. Das A. Subramaniam • A Study of the Galaxies within the Bootes • In-orbit calibration of UVIT on AS- Void, March, 2017, Astronomy Society of TROSAT, 30 June 2016, SPIE meeting, India, Jaipur. Edinburgh, UK. • Dual AGN in Nearby Galaxies, November • Early science results from the UVIT, 8 17, 2016, BINA workshop, ARIES, Naini- March 2017, Annual meeting of the ASI. tal.

• Discovery of the hot companion to a Blue A. Goswami Straggler in NGC 188, 5 October 2016, Neighborhood Astronomy Meeting, ISRO • CEMP stars: evolution, nucleosynthesis, headquarters, Bangalore. observations and the impact on cos- mochemistry, May 10, 2016, ASI-2016, S. Sur Srinagar. Indian Institute of Astrophysics 51

• Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor stars: bina- • Properties of Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galax- rity, evolution, nucleosynthesis, and, the ies, 15–17 Nov 2016, The first BINA Work- impact on cosmochemistry, August 9, 2013, shop, Nainital, India. International conference on ‘Blowing in the wind: connecting the inside and the outside L. Sairam of stars’, ICISE, Quy Nhon, Vietnam. • A study of coronal magnetic activity in RS C. Muthumariappan CVn/BY Dra, 11 May 2016, ASI Kashmir.

• 3D Morphology of the PN IRAS 18333- M. Sampoorna 2357, 10th October 2016, IAU Symposium 323: Planetary Nebulae-Multiwavelength • Comoving Frame Method for Polarized probes of Stellar and Galactic Evolution. PRD Line Transfer with Velocity Fields, September 13, 2016, International Con- K. Nagaraju ference on “Solar Polarization 8”, held in Florence, Italy. • Spectropolarimetric observations of a small scale reconnection event in the chromo- C. S. Stalin sphere simultaneously in Hα and Ca ii at 854.2 nm, 6–10 March 2017, XXXV • Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies, 6–10 meeting of the Astronomical society of March 2017, ASI meeting, Jaipur. India, Jaipur. S. Sur V. Panditi • Outflows from high surface density galax- • Recurrent eruptions by converging and ies, 17th February, 2017, Physics of the ISM shearing polarities in a solar active region, – 6 years of ISM–SPP 1573, University of 10-Mar-2017, ASI-2017, Jaipur. Cologne, Germany. P. Parihar V. Valsan • Indian Participation to the Thirty Meter • Development of Stressed Mirror Polishing Telescope Project: Impact and Current Sta- tus, 15-08-2016, SAAO, Capetown, SA. Technology, 10–13 May, 2016, ASI meeting, University of Kashmir, Srinagar. • A step towards realization of a large Optical–NIR telescope in India, 09- 03-2017, 17th Meeting of ASI, Jaipur, Lectures given in any national, India. international, in-house meeting,

S. Rakshit conference, workshop, school or- ganized at IIA • Differential Interferometry of the Broad line region of Quasars, 10–13 May 2016, Invited: Astronomical society of India annual meeting, Srinagar, India. G. C. Anupama • A catalog of Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galax- • Photometry of Transiting Exoplanets Us- ies from SDSS DR12, 16–21, October 2016, ing Ground Based Facilities, October 7– International conference on “Shining from 9, 2016, IIA-ISAC National Symposium on the heart of darkness: black hole accretion Extrasolar Planets, Kodaikanal Solar Ob- and jets”, Kathmandu, Nepal. servatory. 52 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

R. T. Gangadhara S. Sengupta

• Radiative Processes in Astrophysics –I, • Extra-solar Planets : The Final Frontiers. May 20, 2016, Summer School, Kodaikanal Invited lecture at IIA-ISAC National Sym- Observatory. posium on Extra-solar Planets, October 7– 8, 2016, IIA, Kodaikanal Solar Observa- • Radiative Processes in Astrophysics –II, tory, Kodaikanal. May 21, 2016, Summer School, Kodaikanal Observatory. A. Subramaniam • UVIT and the its impact in Indian Astron- U. S. Kamath omy, 23 March 2017, DST training pro- • Observational Astronomy (3 lectures), May gram, NIAS, Bangalore. 2016, Kodaikanal Summer School. • Early science results from UVIT, 16 March 2017, Master Control Facility (MCF), C. Kathiravan ISRO, Hassan. • Solar radio astronomy : Part – I & Part - • UVIT on ASTROSAT, 9 February 2017, II, 24/05/2017, Summer school 2016, Ko- Ethiraj College, Chennai. daikanal observatory. S. Sur • Solar radio astronomy : Hands-on ses- sion, 24/05/2017, Summer school 2016, • Fundamentals of Magnetohydrodynamics, Kodaikanal observatory. 8–9 January, 2017, Kodai winter school, Kodaikanal. • Solar radio astronomy : Part – III, 25/05/2017, Summer school 2016, Ko- daikanal observatory. Contributed: R. Banyal K. Nagaraju • Towards Radial Velocity Measurements • The Sun, 19–20 May 2017, Kodaikanal with Iodine Cell and Fabry-Perot Ref- Summer School, Kodaikanal. erence, 08-10-2016, IIA-ISAC National Symposium on Exoplanets, Kodaikanal. G. Pandey V. Panditi • Surface abundances of planet hosting stars, October 7 and 8, 2016, IIA-ISAC National • Solar Transient events and short term vari- Symposium on Exoplanets, Kodaikanal So- ability, 2-Jun-2016, Kodaikanal Observa- lar Observatory. tory, Kodaikanal.

K. P. Raju L. Sairam • Stellar magnetic activity and their effects • The Solar Atmosphere, 11/01/2017, Win- on the habitability of orbiting planets, 7 Oc- ter school on solar physics, Kodaikanal. tober 2016, Exoplanet symposium. B. Ravindra M. Sampoorna • Sunspots: Theory and observations, Jan- • Polarized Line Formation in Moving Atmo- uary 2017, Winter school at Kodaikanal spheres, August 17, 2016, GC-III meeting Observatory. at IIA Auditorium. Indian Institute of Astrophysics 53

Invited lectures (not popular • GMRT Radio Observations of Bootes Void lecture) given in any academic Galaxies, November 2016, SKA Meeting, Goa. institution other than IIA which is not a part of any meeting/ • Low Frequency Radio Observations of the rd th conference Gas Around Void Galaxies, July 3 -9 , 2016, Large Scale Structure and Galaxy Flows, Quy Nhon, Vietnam.

• Radioastronomy lecture, March 2017, G. C. Anupama Christ University. • The Thirty Meter Telescope – India Per- spective, 23 February 2017, Kavli-IPMU, S. Das Kashiwa Campus, University of Tokyo, • Beyond Lambda CDM, 17/10/2016, TIFR Japan. Mumbai. D. Banerjee G. Pandey • Filament Detection and Analysis from H- alpha Spectroheliograms of Kodaikanal Ob- • Stellar Spectroscopy I and II, 16 July 2016 servatory, 18 April 2016, Colloquium at and 6 August 2016, M. P. Birla Institute of NAOC, Beijing. Fundamental Research.

• New results from Kodaikanal Digitised P. Parihar Data Archive, • A step towards realization of a large – June 21, 2016, Colloquium at Royal Optical–NIR telescope in India, 19-05- Observatory of Belgium, Brussels. 2016, ARIES, Nainital, India. – September 5, 2016, Colloquium at Ar- magh Observatory, N. Ireland. D. K. Sahu

– December 1, 2016, Colloquium at • Peculiar Type Ia supernovae – An obser- CESSI, IISER (Kolkata). vational perspective, January 13, 2017, – January 10, 2017, Colloquium at Big Astronomy-Particle Physics, Experimental Bear Solar Observatory, USA. Physics-Cosmology (APEC) seminar at Kavli, IPMU, Univ. of Tokyo. R. Banyal L. Sairam • Optical detectors in Astronomy, 09-01- 2017, Winter School, Kodaikanal. • An overview of a multi wavelength • Adaptive optics in Astronomy, 03-03-2017, mission- Astrosat, 31 August 2016, Sri Sathya Sai University, Prashanti Nili- Hamburger Sternwarte. ayam, A.P. C. S. Stalin M. Das • Astronomy: From Ground and Space, 28 • GMRT Low Frequency Observations of February 2017, IETE Bangalore Centre, Gas Around Void Galaxies, November Bangalore. 2016, SKA-Continuum Surveys Meeting (SPARCS), Goa. A. Subramaniam 54 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

• Lectures on star formation and stellar Evo- D. Banerjee lution, 3 February 2017, Astronomy Meet- ing, Christ University, Bangalore. • Contemporary physical challenges for heliospherical and astrophysical mod- S. Sur els (CHARM) / National Large Scale Telescope, DST and BELSPO bilateral • Outflows from high surface density galax- project. ies, July 2016, on an academic visit to IU- CAA, Pune. • Long term study of the sun using Ko- daikanal Digitized data, funded by DST. 7.2 Awards, Recognition, R. Banyal Professional Mem- • PI of the project, Development of a stabi- lized Fabry-Perot wavelength calibrator for bership, Editorship precision Doppler spectroscopy, funded by etc. SERB. • Co-PI: Ultraviolet observations of the sky G. C. Anupama from balloons and satellites, funded by • Elected as Fellow, Indian Academy of Sci- SERB. ences, Bangalore. R. K. Chaudhuri R. Banyal • Profiling the electronic structure properties • ASI member. of relativistic and non-relativistic systems using computationally cost effective ab ini- S. Rakshit tio methods: EMR/2015/000124.

• National Postdoctoral Fellowship. A. Goswami

A. Subramaniam • Estimation of surface chemical composition of CEMP stars and AGB nucleosynthesis, • Associate Editor, JAA (2017–2019). funded by the DST, SERB.

7.3 Externally Funded J. Murthy • Ultraviolet observations of the sky from bal- Projects loons and satellites, funded by the DST, SERB. G. C. Anupama

• PI of the DST–JSPS project, Studies of G. Pandey low redshift supernovae – steps towards un- • Aspects in Stellar and Galactic Evolution, derstanding the universe at high redshift project funded by DST. (2015–2017). V. Panditi • Indian PI of the International Project, “GROWTH: Global Relay of Observatories • A Study on the Formation and Initiation of Watching Transients Happen”, funded by Magnetic Flux Ropes, funded by DST. IUSSTF–SERB (2015–2018) under the PIRE programme. P. Parihar Indian Institute of Astrophysics 55

• Exploring Design Options for New Opti- • Organized Summer school on ‘Physics and cal Telescopes in South Africa and India, Astrophysics’ at Kodaikanal Solar Observa- Indo–South African Bilateral Joint Project tory as a school coordinator during May 20 funded by the Department of Science & – June 3, 2016. Technology, Govt. of India and National Research foundation, Republic of South K. Nagaraju Africa. • Kodaikanal Winter School on Solar Physics in Kodaikanal. L. Sairam K. N. Nagendra • INSPIRE faculty fellowship DST–DFG Indo-German Joint project. • Served as a Member representing India, on the International Scientific Organizing P. Sreekumar Committee, formed to organize the 8th In- • Joint center for Solar coronal composition ternational Workshop on SOLAR POLAR- and its evolution with solar activity, funded IZATION (SPW8) held in Florence, Italy, by IUSSTF. during September 12–16, 2016.

C. S. Stalin L. Sairam

• PI of the Indo–Polish project for the period • Organised a one day workshop on New Ini- 2015–2018. tiatives in the field of Exoplanetary Science in India at XXXV Astronomical Society of India meeting held at Jaipur on 6 March 7.4 Workshop, Confer- 2017. ence, School etc. S. Sengupta Organized at IIA or • IIA–ISAC National Symposium on Extra- solar Planets, October 7–8, 2016, IIA, Ko- outside IIA daikanal Solar Observatory, Kodaikanal.

G. C. Anupama

• SOC Member, IIA–ISAC National Sympo- 7.5 Popular Lectures sium on Extrasolar Planets, 7–9 October G. C. Anupama 2016. • A Career in Astronomy, 3 March 2017, • SOC Member, ASI Workshop on Exoplan- “Women in Science: Career in Science– ets, 5 March 2017. Current Opportunities in Science and Tech- • SOC Member, TMT Science Forum 2016. nology”, a workshop sponsored by the In- dian Academy of Sciences, and held at R. Banyal NMKRV College, Bengaluru.

• Organized the Solar Physics winter school R. Banyal in Kodaikanal January 8–15, 2017. • Extrasolar Planet: Discovering the new • Coordinated the Astronomy lecture series worlds, 24 February 2017, at IIA by G. Srinivasan. – Thiagarajar college of engineering A. Goswami Madurai, TN Science Forum. 56 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

– Fatima college Madurai. 7.6 Public Communica- – SVN College, Madurai. tion

M. Das R. Banyal

• Galaxies in our Universe, February, 2017, • Planned and organized several illustrations Science Day talk. and experiments for the visit of high school children on science day celebration in IIA C. Muthumariappan on 28 Feb 2017. These experiments include light reflection, refraction, total internal • Optical Astronomy in India, 29th July reflection, scattering and demonstration 2016, Tamilnadu Science forum students of space-time curvature with a stretched visiting Vainu Bappu Observatory. membrane fixed to a circular frame and the weight in the middle. • Optical and Infra-red Astronomy, 28th Jan- uary 2017, Space Olympiad organised by C. Kathiravan FISAT Ernakulam. • Member of the Public outreach committee L. Sairam from April, 2016 to December, 2016 and contributed to the outreach programs or- ganized during the period. • Exoplanet detection and their habitability, 3 May 2017, for Astronomy Olympiads at C. Muthumariappan Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum. • Founder’s Day celebration at VBO on 10th August 2016. Total of 70 selected PG S. Sengupta physics students from five colleges partic- ipated in the event. A quiz programme on • Search For Extra-terrestrial Life, Febru- Science and Astronomy was conducted. ary 28, 2017, Science Day special Lecture, IISER, Pune. • Chief Guest lecture on ‘Astronomical In- struments and Techniques’ was given at P. Sreekumar the PMC–Tech Engineering College, Ho- sur, 15th February 2017 • Physics + Astronomy is really exciting, April 19, 2016, Space Camp for school P. Parihar children, IISc. • As a part of outreach activities, given sev- • Exploring the Universe: Current and future eral popular lectures at IIA and also par- th programs, 16 March 2017, IIT-Roorkee, ticipated in various outreach programs. Dept. of Physics. L. Sairam A. Subramaniam • Authored a popular article for the • How the Indian Observatory discovered the quarterly bulletin of Jawaharlal Nehru making of a Vampire star, 28 February Planetarium titled “M-dwarfs as extra- 2017, National Science Day lecture, IIA. solar planet hosts”, April 2016 edition. Indian Institute of Astrophysics 57

7.7 Involvement with the • Visited Istituto Ricerche Solari Locarno (IRSOL) at Locarno, Switzerland for three Scientific Community weeks in September 2016, to collaborate with Profs. J. O. Stenflo, M. Bianda, Drs. G. C. Anupama L. Belluzzi, and R. Ramelli. • Member, Academy Summer Fellow selec- • Providing theory support for French ex- tion committee (2016). perimental Physics group headed by Prof. William Guerin, Institut non-lineaire de • Co-Opted Committee Member, PAC Nice (INLN), University of Nice, France, (Physical Sciences), Science and Engineer- on polarized light scattering on laser ing Research Board (SERB) (2015–2017). cooled Rubidium atoms to test the axioms • Member, DOT Time Allocation Commit- of quantum light scattering theory on tee. atoms.

• Member of the SKA–India science working T. P. Prabhu group on Transients. • Chair, Devasthal Optical Telescope Time • Convenor, TMT International Science De- Allocation Committee. velopment Team on Time Domain Astron- omy. • Member, Subject Area Committee on Physical Sciences, Swarna Jayanti Fellow- A. Mangalam ship Award Programme, DST.

• Chair of Theoretical Astrophysics group at P. Sreekumar IIA since August 2015. • IIA–4th Paradigm Institute: setup of mon- • Chair of the Library committee. itoring station at CREST campus – Nov 2016. • SOC for ASI national meetings for Septem- ber 2013–September 2016. • IIA–BARC – setup of MACE telescope in Hanle. • Member, Committee for Post Doctoral fel- lowships since October 2010. • IIA–ISRO – development of Visible Emis- sion Line Coronograph on Aditya-L1 mis- • IIA representative for JAP syllabus com- sion. mittee. • IIA–SPL/VSSC – trace gas monitoring sta- • Member of the media interaction commit- tion at Hanle. tee since April 2015.

• Member, the Colloquium committee. • Member, Governing Council of J. N. Plan- etarium. • Member, Committee for ERP project man- agement since October 2010. • Member, Science Advisory Council, Space Physics Laboratory, VSSC. • Beta tester for the software Mathematica. • Member, International Program Advisory K. N. Nagendra Committee, LIGO. 58 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

7.8 Official Language Im- Gajendra Pandey, Associate Professor gave the welcome speech. Chairman addressed plementation (OLI) the audience and congratulated all the em- ployees for their efforts taken towards official OLIC Meeting language implementation in their official Four meetings were conducted in the Insti- work. He also encouraged them to keep up tute; on June 27, 2016, September 23, 2016, this pace as it is the moral responsibility December 27, 2016 & March 30, 2017 and the of all staff members to accomplish official reports were sent to the Dept. of Science & work in Hindi. Dr. S. Rajanatesan, Section Technology, New Delhi and to the Member Officer (Hindi) read the Official Language Secretary, TOLIC, Bengaluru. implementation activity report. Chairman distributed the cash prizes to the winners. The function was concluded with a vote of Hindi Workshop thanks by Dr. S. Rajanatesan. In order to expedite the implementation of Two Hindi competitions were conducted Official Language in the Institute and to im- viz., “Hindi-English Noting” competition prove the staff members capacity for doing and “Hindi Visual-Quiz” competition on official work in Hindi, two Hindi Workshops September 30, 2016 at VBO, IIA, Kavalur. were conducted for the employees working in Cash awards were given to the winners to Administration on June 16, 2016 and Novem- encourage them and to motivate other staff ber 21, 2016. The reports were sent to the members to participate in the activities in Dept. of Science & Technology, New Delhi. the forthcoming years.

Hindi Day/ Fortnight Celebra- 7.9 Welfare of SC/ST tion Staff & Physically The Institute celebrated the Hindi Fortnight Challenged from September 14, 2016 to September 30, 2016. During the occasion, seven com- A senior officer of the Institute has been func- petitions were conducted in the Institute tioning as the liaison officer to support the viz., “Hindi-English Noting” competition welfare of the SC/ST staff members. Special on September 14, 2016, “Hindi Suptan” consideration as per norms during recruit- competition on September 16, 2016, “Hindi ment and regular assessment has been pro- Easy Writing” competition on September vided to these categories of employees. As of 19, 2016, “Hindi Song” competition on the end of the year, members belonging to September 20, 2016, “Hindi Visual-Quiz” the SC, ST and OBC categories constitute competition on September 21, 2016, “Hindi 14.60%, 12.85% & 11.06% respectively of the Dictation” competition on September 22, total strength. In addition, reservations con- 2016, and “Hindi ’Antakshari” competition tinue to be extended to OBCs and physically on September 26, 2016. Hindi Pakwada disabled persons. Proactive efforts are con- closing ceremony was observed on November tinuously made towards their welfare. Fa- 21, 2016 in the institute. Dr. P. Sreekumar, cilities and mechanisms have been provided Director presided over the function. Dr. for special administrative as well as technical Indian Institute of Astrophysics 59 training of staff from the historically disad- all members regarding gender inequality and vantaged categories. sexual harassment. The Institute has its In- ternal Complaints Committee against Sex- ual Harassment and this Committee actively 7.10 Committee against takes up all the internal complaints and is- Sexual Harassment sues as per the Sexual Harassment of Women (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) at A Gender Amity Cell has been functioning Workplace Act, 2013. in the Institute in order to provide a plat- A general seminar was organized at the In- form to take up and discuss gender related stitute on December 9, 2016 and Ms Shakun issues. Gender Amity Cell works towards en- Doundiyakhed delivered a talk titled ‘To- suring sensitisation and awareness amongst wards gender equity at the work place’. Chapter 8

PUBLICATIONS

8.1 In Journals lence conditions with beam wandering com- pensation control [1] *Ackermann, M., et al. (including Stalin, C. S.,) 2017, The Astrophysical Journal [6] *Arockia Bazil Raj, A., Lancelot, J. P., Letters. Vol. 837, No. 1, L5. Gamma-Ray 2016, Journal of Optical Technology, Vol. Blazars within the first 2 billion years 83, No.1, pp. 55–68. Seasonal investigation on prediction ac- [2] *Ajello, M., et al. (including Paliya, curacy of atmospheric turbulence strength Vaidehi S.,) 2016, The Astrophysical with a new model at Punalkulam, Tamil Journal, Vol. 826, No. 1, 76. Nadu NuSTAR, Swift, and GROND Observa- tions of the Flaring MeV Blazar PMN [7] *Balona, L. A., et al. (including Pandey, J0641–0320 G., Hema, B. P.,) 2016, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 460, [3] Ambily, S., Mayuresh, Sarpotdar., No. 2, pp. 1318–1327. Mathew, J., Sreejith, A. G., Nirmal, K., The hot γ Doradus and Maia stars Prakash, A., Safonova, M., Murthy, J., 2017, Journal of Astronomical Instrumen- [8] Banyal, R. K., *Reiners, A., 2017, Journal tation, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1750002. of Astronomical Instrumentation, Vol. 6, Development of Data Acquisition Methods No. 1, 1750001. for an FPGA-Based Photon Counting A dual cavity Fabry-Perot device for high Detector precision Doppler measurements in astron- omy [4] *Anantha, Ch., et al. (including Sivarani, T., Giridhar, S.,) 2017, Experimental [9] *Bertello, L., et al. (including Singh, J.,) Astronomy, Vol. 43, No.1, pp. 39–58. 2016, Solar Physics, Vol. 291, No. 9, pp Performance results of HESP physical 2967–2979. model Correlation between sunspot number and Ca ii K emission index

[5] *Anthonisamy, Arockia Bazil Raj., *Du- [10] *Bertello, L., et al. (including Singh, J.,) rairaj, Padmavathi., Lancelot, J. P., 2016, 2016, Asian Journal of Physics, Vol. 25, IET Communications, Vol.10, No. 9, pp. No. 3, pp. 295–310. 1096 – 1103. Solar Ca ii K Observations Performance analysis of free space optical [11] *Bhat, S. S., *Paul, K. T., Subramaniam, ∗ Collaborators from other Institutions A., *Mathew, B., 2016, Research in Astron- communication in open-atmospheric turbu- omy and Astrophysics, Vol. 16, No. 05, pp.

60 Indian Institute of Astrophysics 61

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[25] *Ferro, A. A., *Luna, A., *Bramich, D. M., Simultaneous near-sun observations of a Giridhar, S., *Ahumada, J. A., Muneer, S., moving type IV radio burst and the asso- 2016, Astrophysics and Space Science, Vol. ciated white-light coronal mass ejection 361, No. 5, 175. [33] *Haris, U., et al. (including Murthy, J.,) RR Lyrae stars and the horizontal branch 2016, The Astronomical Journal, Vol. 151, of NGC 5904 (M5) No. 6, 143. [26] *Gao, Guannan., et al. (including Silicon depletion in the interstellar medium Ebenezer, E.,) 2016, Solar Physics, Vol. [34] Hazra, G., *Choudhuri, A. R., *Miesch, 291, No. 11, pp. 33693384. Mark S., 2017, The Astrophysical Journal, The broken lane of a type II radio burst Vol. 835, No. 1, 39. caused by collision of a coronal shock with A theoretical study of the Build-Up of the a flare current sheet Sun’s Polar Magnetic Field by using a 3D [27] George, K., 2017, Astronomy & Astro- Kinematic Dynamo Model physics, Vol. 598, A45. Structural analysis of star-forming blue [35] *Hota, A., et al. (including Stalin, C. S.,) early-type galaxies Merger-driven star 2016, Journal of Astrophysics and Astron- formation in elliptical galaxies omy, Vol. 37, No. 4, 41. Tracking Galaxy Evolution Through Low- [28] *Ghosh, A., Chaudhuri, R. K., *Chat- Frequency Radio Continuum Observations topadhyay, S., 2016, Journal of Chemical using SKA and Citizen-Science Research Physics, Vol. 145, No. 12 , 124303. using Multi-Wavelength Data Relativistic state-specific multireference coupled cluster theory description for [36] *Iglesias, F. A., *Feller, A., Nagaraju, bond-breaking energy surfaces K., *Solanki, S. K., 2016, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 590, A89. [29] *Gillon, M., et al., (including Sahu, D. K.,) High-resolution, high-sensitivity, ground- 2016, Nature, Vol. 533, No. 7602, pp. 221– based solar spectropolarimetry with a new 224. fast imaging polarimeter: I. Prototype Temperate Earth-sized planets transiting a characterization nearby ultracool dwarf star [37] Kharb, P., et al. (including Shastri, P., [30] *Girish, V., et al. (including Tandon, S. N., Mousumi Das.,) 2016, Journal of Astro- Sriram, S., Amit Kumar) 2017, Experimen- physics and Astronomy, Vol. 37, No. 4, tal Astronomy, Vol. 43, No.1, pp. 59–74. 34. Mapping distortion of detectors in UVIT From nearby low luminosity AGN to High onboard astrosat observatory Redshift Radio Galaxies: science interests [31] Honey, M., et al. (including Mousumi with square kilometre array Das.,) 2016, Monthly Notices of the Royal [38] Kharb, P., Srivastava, S., *Singh, V., Astronomical Society, Vol. 462, No. 2, pp. *Gallimore, J., *Ishwara-Chandra, C. H. 2099–2121. *Ananda, H., 2016, Monthly Notices of the Near-infrared imaging of barred halo- Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 459, No. dominated low surface brightness galaxies 2, pp. 1310–1326. [32] Hariharan, K., Ramesh, R., Kathiravan, A GMRT study of Seyfert galaxies NGC C., *Wang, T. J., 2016, Solar Physics, Vol. 4235 and NGC 4594: evidence of episodic 291, No. 5, pp. 1405–1416. activity? Indian Institute of Astrophysics 63

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[123] Prasanna Deshmukh., Parihar, P. S., 2016, Snehalate Sahu.,) 2016, Proceedings of 2016 Indian Control Conference (ICC), Hy- the SPIE, Vol. 9905, pp. 99051F-1 – derabad, India, pp. 245 – 252. 99051F-10. Precision controller for segmented mirror In-orbit performance of UVIT on AS- telescope actuator: control and tuning TROSAT [124] Prasanna Deshmukh., Parihar, P. S., [129] *Wright, S. A. et al., (including Subrama- *Mishra, Deepta Sundar., Prakash, A., niam, A.,) 2016, Proceedings of the SPIE, Kemkar, P. M. M., 2016, Proceedings Vol. 9909, pp. 990905-1 – 990905-15. of the SPIE, Vol. 9912, pp. 991207-1 – The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) 991207-15. for TMT: latest science cases and simula- A soft actuator for prototype segmented tions mirror telescope [125] Pruthvi, H., Ramesh, K. B., Dhara, Sajal 8.3 Technical Reports, Kumar., Ravindra, B., 2016, Proceedings of the SPIE, Vol. 9909, pp. 99083V-1 – Monographs, Circulars, 99083V-6. Developing scanning-slit spectrograph for ATel imaging the Sun [130] Pavana, M., Anupama, G. C., 2016, ATel, [126] *Scharwachter, J., et al., (including Shas- 9865, 1. tri, P., Kharb, P., Jose, J., Bhatt, H. C., HCT Spectra of the recurrent nova M31N Ramya, S.,) 2016, Astrophysics and Space 2008-12a during its 2016 outburst Science Proceedings, Vol. 42, N. R. Napoli- tano, G. Longo, M. Marconi, M. Paolillo, [131] Safonova, M., Nirmal, K., Sreejith, A. & E. Iodice (Eds.), The Universe of Digital G., Mayuresh, Sarpotdar., Ambily, S., Sky Surveys, pp. 263–267. Prakash, A., Mathew, J., Murthy, J., The WiFeS S7 AGN survey: Current status Anand, D., Kapardhi, B. V. N., Suneel and recent results on NGC 6300 Kumar, B., Kulkarni, P. M., 2016, IIA Technical Report Series No. 16, Report [127] Sreejith, A. G., Mathew, J., Mayuresh, No: IIA-TRS-1616, pp.1–9. Sarpotdar., Nirmal, K., Ambily, S., Measurements of gondola motion on a Prakash, A., Safonova, M., Murthy, J., stratospheric balloon flight 2016, Proceedings of the SPIE, Vol. 9908, pp. 99084E-1 – 99084E-7. Balloon UV experiments for astronomical and atmospheric observations 8.4 Books

[128] Subramaniam, A. et al. (including Tan- [132] Chaudhuri, R. K., Chattopadhyay, S. K., don, S. N., George, K., Kamath, P. U., 2016, Many-body methods for atoms and Kathiravan, S., AmitKumar., Lancelot, molecules., Boca Raton, CRC Press, ISBN: J. P., Mahesh, P. K., Mohan, Rekhes, 9781482211900 Murthy, J., Nagabhushana, S., Pati, A. K., Kameswara Rao, N., Sankarasubramanian, [133] Krishan, V., 2016, Physics of partially ion- K., Sreekumar, P., Sriram, S., Stalin, C. S., ized plasmas, Cambridge University Press, Sutaria, F. K., Sreedhar, Yuvraj Harsha., Cambridge atmospheric and space science Barve, Indrajit V., Mondal, Chayan., series; ISBN:978-1-107-11739-6 70 Indian Institute of Astrophysics

8.5 Popular Articles [140] Episodic high-velocity outflows from V899 Mon: a constraint on the outflow mecha- [134] Sengupta, S., 2016, Resonance, Vol. 21, nisms, No. 7, pp. 641–652. J. P. Ninan., D. K. Ojha., N. S. Philip., The Search for another earth 2016, APJ, 825, 1, 65. [135] Sengupta, S., 2016, Resonance, Vol. 21, [141] Simulation studies of MACE-I: Trigger No. 10, pp. 899–910. rates and energy thresholds, The search for another earth – Part II Chinmay Borwankar., Nilay Bhatt., Subir Bhattacharyya., R. C. Rannot., A. K. [136] Shastri, P., 2017, Resonance, Vol. 22, No. Tickoo., R. Koul., Satyendra Thoudam., 3, pp. 237–244. 2016, Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 84, Black Holes in Our Universe: Do they Inch 97–106. up the Mass Ladder? [142] Multiwavelength Variability Study of the Classical BL Lac Object PKS 0735+178 8.6 HCT Publications on Timescales Ranging from Decades to Minutes, by non-IIA Users Arti Goyal.,Lukasz Stawarz., Micha l Os- trowski., Valeri Larionov., Gopal-Krishna., [137] Star Formation around Mid-Infrared Bub- Paul J. Wiita., Santosh Joshi., Marian ble N37: Evidence of Cloud-Cloud Colli- Soida., and Iv´an Agudo., 2017, APJ, 837, sion, 2, 127. Baug, T.; Dewangan, L. K.; Ojha, D. K.; Ninan, J.P., 2016, APJ, 833, 85B. [143] Radio and infrared study of the star- forming region IRAS 20286+4105, [138] Star-formation activity in the neighborhood Varsha Ramachandran., S. R. Das., A. of W-R 1503-160L star in the mid-infrared Tej ., S. Vig., S. K. Ghosh ., D. K. Ojha., bubble N46, 2017, MNRAS, 465, 4, 4753–4771. L. K. Dewangan, T. Baug, D. K. Ojha, P. Janardhan, J. P. Ninan, A. Luna, and I. [144] Hα imaging survey of Wolf-Rayet galaxies: Zinchenko, 2016, APJ, 826, 1, 27. morphologies and star formation rates, S. Jaiswal, A. Omar, 2016, MNRAS, 462, [139] Properties of dust particles in comets from 92 photometric and polarimetric observations of 67P, [145] A multiwavelength investigation of the H ii E. Hadamcik., E. Hadamcik., A. C. region S311: Young stellar population and Levasseur-Regourd., A. C. Levasseur- star formation, Regourd., D. C. Hines., A. K. Sen., J. R. K. Yadav, et al., 2016, MNRAS, 461, Lasue., J. -B. Renard., 2016, MNRAS, 462 2502 (Suppl 1): S507-S515 Indian Institute of Astrophysics 71

Table 8.1: Publication List Year Published in Journals Published in Proceedings Total

April2012–March2013 94 16 110 April2013–March2014 103 16 119 April2014–March2015 128 29 157 April2015–March2016 120 31 151 April2016–March2017 106 23 129

Total 551 115 666 Chapter 9

PEOPLE

Director: P. Sreekumar Scientist C: G. S. Suryanarayana Academic & Scientific Staff Scientist B: Namgyal Dorjey, G. Selvaku- Senior Professor: G. C. Anupama, Jayant mar Murthy, Sunetra Giridhar (up to 30.06.2016) Research Associate B: M. Appakutty Professor: Annapurni Subramaniam, Arun Mangalam, R. K. Chaudhuri, Dipankar Adjunct Scientist: K. Sankarasubrama- Banerjee, B. Eswar Reddy, R. T. Gangad- nian hara, R. Kariyappa (up to 31.05.2016), Prajval Shastri, B. Raghavendra Prasad, Adjunct Professor: A. N. Ramaprakash K. B. Ramesh (up to 30.09.2016), R. Ramesh Visiting Professor: K. N. Nagendra, G. Associate Professor: Aruna Goswami, Srinivasan, S. N. Tandon B. C. Bhatt, Gajendra Pandey, K. M. Hiremath, U. S. Kamath, Mousumi Das, Visiting Scientist: Brajesh Kumar, Mar- S. Muneer, Muthumariappan, P. S. Par- garita Safonova (up to 16.09.2016), Wasim ihar, S. Paul Kaspar Rajguru, Pravabati Iqbal (up to 12.08.2016) Chingangbam, K. P. Raju, D. K. Sahu, A. Satya Narayanan (up to 31.05.2016), S. K. Honorary Professor: S. S. Hasan (up Sengupta, Sivarani Thirupathi, C. S. Stalin to 30.06.2016), K. E. Rangarajan, P. Venkatakrishnan Scientist E: B. A. Varghese Consultant: C. H. Basavaraju, Christina Reader: E. Ebenezer Chellasamy, Firoza Birdie, Lt. Col Kuldip Chandar, Y. K. Raja Sutaria, C. Kathiravan, Nagaraju. K, Piyali Iyengar (up to 31.05.2016), Sandra Rajiva Chatterjee, Preeti Kharb (up to 20.09.2016), Ravinder Kumar Banyal, B. Ravindra, M. Post Doctoral Fellow: Arun Surya, Sampoorna, Sharanya Sur, Subinoy Das Ashish Raj, K. Drisya (up to 3.09.2016), Hema. B. P, Kanhaiya Lal Pandey, Koshy Scientist D: Rekesh Mohan, N. Shantiku- George, Suvendu Rakshit, Vineeth Valsan mar Singh, R. Sridharan

72 Indian Institute of Astrophysics 73

Technical staff (permanent) Asst. Librarian B: B. S. Mohan, P. Prabahar Engineer F: G. Srinivasulu Sr. Research Asst. B: V. Moorthy Engineer E: V. Arumugam, Faseehana Saleem, P. M. M. Kemkar, P. K. Mahesh, S. Technical Asst. C: D. Premkumar, V. Nagabushana, R. Ramachandra Reddy, M. Robert V. Ramaswamy, B. Ravikumar Reddy, S. Sriram, J. P. L. C. Thangadurai Technical Associate: K. Sagayanathan, P. R. Sreeramulu Nayaka Engineer D: Amit Kumar, P. Anabazha- gan, Dorje Angchuk, S. Kathiravan, Sanjiv Gorka, K. C. Thulasidharen, Tsewang Dorjai, P. Umesh Kamath Administrative staff Sr. Administrative Officer: P. Kumare- Principal Scientific Officer: R. Selven- san dran Principal Staff Officer: K. Thiyagarajan Engineer C: Anish Parwage, K. Anupama, (up to 31.01.2017) K. Dhananjay, A. Ramachandran, K. Ravi, Sonam Jorphail, Tashi Thsering Mahay, Accounts Officer: S. B. Ramesh Vellai Selvi Assistant Personnel Officer: Narasimha Technical Officer B: Narasimhappa Murthy Engineer B: Chinchu Mohanan. K, V. S. Stores & Purchase Officer: K. P. Vishnu Gireesh Gantyada, Indrajit V. Barve, Mal- Vardhan lappa, Naveen Kumar Mishra (05.01.2017 to 28.02.2017), M. Rajalingam, N. Raj Kumar Sr. Section Officer: K. Padmavathy, (06.01.2017 to 17.04.2017), S. Ramamoorthy, Pramila Mohan Tsewang Gyalson, Vinay Kumar Gond

Section Officer (SG): Maliny Rajan, Technical Officer: M. R. Somashekar, C. N. K. Pramila, N. Sathya Bama, Uma V. Sri Harsha Maileveloo Tech. Associate B: D. Babu (up to Section Officer: Diskit Dolker, Ra- 20.08.2016), P. Kumaravel, J. Manoharan, maswamy, N. Valsalan (up to 30.11.2016), S. Venkateshwara Rao V. Vijayaraj Sr. Tech. Asst. C: R. Ismail Jabillullah, Section Officer (Hindi): S. Rajanatesan A. Muniyandi, T. K. Muralidas (up to 30.09.2016) Sr. Office Superintendant: A. Veronica Chapter 10

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