Astral Odyssey : Thesis Journeys Part 1

Drumroll please... Let us introduce you to our brand new series Astral Odyssey: Thesis Journeys. We'll be interviewing the stars of our community, our outgoing seniors, delving into the intricacies and complexities of their research. These are not just a culmination of their academic journey here at IISER Mohali but are the passionate pursuits driven by the immense curiosity for understanding the profound questions posed by our Universe.

In this interview series, let's take a look at their journey through Astronomy, their motivation for choosing it and further details on their research projects. Join us as we embark on this journey through our Universe, guided by our beloved seniors, basking in their knowledge and fueled by our collective passion for Astronomy. Give it up for Astral Odyssey !!!

 

First up we have our dearest Ashish who has done remarkable research in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). Let's join in on the conversation between Ashish and Avni.

Q:1 What was your thesis topic ? 

A: “Dark Neutron Models in BBN” Well, it sounds complicated but the underlying ideas are very simple.

 Q:2 Why did you choose it?

 A: Ahh, it’s a tough question. You see, most of the choices that we make in our lives are completely random (depending on various factors that are not in our control). Even though we spend hours thinking about what decision we should make, in this case, I was lucky because my advisor, whom I approached for my thesis, suggested two topics: one on neutron stars and the other on BBN. I looked into some of his earlier papers and found out that BBN was a bit more comprehensible to me, so I decided to go ahead with it. Later, I realized these two topics are actually related; we are just looking at the consequences of particular models in different astrophysical scenarios.

 Q:3 What did you like about it?

 A: In my thesis, the basic idea was to use Big Bang Nucleosynthesis to put constraints on a model of Dark Matter. In the process, I had to write the whole BBN code from scratch, and then I introduced this dark matter model into my code to see the implications on the abundance of elements in the early universe because of this dark matter model. This whole idea of working on a model and seeing the implications of this model on our real-world observations was something fascinating for me. Just sitting at my computer, I could see whether such models were making sense or not. And that is great.

 Q:4 Who was your guide ?

 A: My external guide was Prof. Nirmal Raj at CHEP, IISc. I was fortunate to work under him; he is really a great guy. Also, my local advisor here was Prof. Harvinder Kaur Jassal. 

Q:5 Was Astronomy always the plan?

 A: Well, both yes and no! My sole reason to join IISER was to work in the area of astrophysics (as they say, “astrophysics is a gateway drug to physics”), but it changed. As I mentioned, most of the choices that we make in life are completely random. In my third year, I had a course in mathematical physics, taught by Prof. Ambresh Shivaji, and he taught it very well. So, I asked for an internship under him, and luckily, he agreed. In that internship, I learned how to do research in particle physics. It was a good experience; I learned about the Standard Model, its shortcomings, and some standard techniques to do numerical calculations in the Standard Model. After that, I was looking to work in the same area of particle physics (specifically phenomenology) because this was the area I was trained in during my internship, and since I had some experience in this area, I thought I would continue this. But things changed here, perhaps for the good. My thesis advisor at that time was working in Astro-particle physics, which is basically observing the consequences of particle physics in the early universe rather than on colliders. Astro-particle physics seemed interesting to me. I had two great meetings with him where he clearly explained both of the projects to me, and I opted for one. So, this is how I again came back to where I started. 

Q:6 Internship done in this field ?

 A: No, but whatever I learned in my previous internship was a bit useful here as well. My internship was in particle physics, and my thesis was in Astro-particle physics, so for the particle part, my internships did help me. 

Q:7 How did you get interested? 

A: My advisor suggested papers related to my project. I skimmed through them, and both ideas were interesting but not very clear to me in the beginning. So, he gave me a brief idea about my topic, and since his explanations were great, it made me fall for this topic.

Q:8 What are the prerequisites for this field ? 

A: It was different for me because I didn’t take any Astronomy courses. So, I had to learn some early universe cosmology (some specific chapters of Scott and Dodelson). However, I was comfortable with the ideas of particle physics because I had done QFT and STPP courses at IISER-M, but of course, I had to revise some things.

 Q:9 Any mistakes that you have made , and would recommend the juniors to avoid?

 A: Well, the whole process of working on your thesis goes from a lot of ups and downs, so be prepared for it. In your thesis year, you will experience freedom to do research. Most of the time your advisor will just give you an idea, you have to do all your work by yourself, so organize your time table, keep weekly checks of your work, try to have weekly meetings with your advisor (if possible). Apart from this, if you are planning to do your thesis outside IISER-M, always keep in touch with your local advisor. If possible, send him a weekly/monthly report of your work. Although it is not necessary, still, if you are planning to work in Astronomy better take some courses, similarly if you are planning to work in some other field, try to take some courses in that area as well. This will help you, if you want to apply for grad school because in that case you won't face scarcity of recommendation letters, in that case you will have some people who will be willing to write for you. (Well, technically this isn't always the case but there is a good chance) This is the mistake I made, so better avoid it. .

 Q:10 What are your future plans?

A: Most probably, I will be joining Ghent University for a PhD in Neutrino Physics. There, I will be working in particle physics. Again, as I said, most of the decisions that we make in our life are random, so I don’t want to commit to what I will be doing after my PhD. But my basic idea is to enjoy the process because after all, every area of physics is equally interesting. As Feynman said,

 “Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough.”