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Dr. Kuldeep Verma

Assistant Professor
Department of Physics IIT(BHU)
Phone No(s): 7307108094
Email: kuldeep.phy@iitbhu.ac.in
Area of Interest: Asteroseismology, Stellar Astrophysics, Galactic Archaeology, Machine Learning
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I am working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi (since July 12, 2022). I previously worked as a Juan de la Cierva Fellow at the Institute of Space Sciences, Spain (November 1, 2021 until July 11, 2022) and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Denmark (October 1, 2016 until April 30, 2021). I completed my PhD degree in 2016 with a thesis on "Asteroseismology of sun-like main-sequence stars" from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. I obtained my master and bachelor's degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and University of Allahabad, Allahabad, respectively. My research involves data, concepts and tools from various disciplines including asteroseismology, stellar astrophysics, Galactic archaeology, statistics and numerical computations. In particular, I frequently employ stellar evolution and pulsation models, as well as advanced statistical and numerical methods including Bayesian analysis and machine learning in my research (see research section for an overview). I am member of a number of national and international organizations including International Astronomical Union (IAU), European Astronomical Society (EAS) and Astronomical Society of India (ASI). Furthermore, I hold memberships in the NASA's Kepler and TESS asteroseismic science consortia and am heavily involved in the preparation of the upcoming European Space Agency's PLATO mission.

An accurate understanding of the internal structure and evolution of stars is of paramount importance to modern astrophysics, and physics in general. Stars serve as an excellent laboratory to test our understanding of basic physics in extreme conditions, and their observations provide invaluable inputs for several scientific disciplines including exoplanetary science and Galactic studies.  

I specialize in asteroseismology, the study of oscillations in stars. During the past one-and-a-half decades, the high-quality measurements of the surface brightness variations of stars by the French-led CoRoT space telescope and the NASA Kepler/K2 and TESS satellites allowed not only detections of stellar oscillations but also provided their frequencies to unprecedented precision. Since the modes observed on the surface propagate inside the star, they sense the medium and carry information about the stellar interior. The contemporary measurements of several tens of oscillation frequencies of the stars enable us to probe their interior somewhat in the same way helioseismology was used to study the solar interior. Furthermore, such precise measurements of frequencies together with stellar evolution models allow us to precisely infer masses, radii, ages and helium abundances of field stars, which serve as invaluable inputs for exoplanetary science and Galactic archaeology.  

I also work on relatively new discipline of Galactic archaeology. The chemical and kinematic properties of stars in the Milky Way contain information about the properties of the gas from which they formed. Therefore, the measured stellar elemental abundances from the large spectroscopic surveys such as the APOGEE and the measurement of the 6D phase space information of stars by the Gaia mission can be used together with the seismically inferred stellar ages to identify the key physical processes and past major events that shaped our Milky Way. Such studies can be combined with the chemical evolution models and modern state-of-the-art cosmological magneto-hydrodynamic zoom-in simulations to study the formation and evolution of our host Galaxy.

H-index : 20; Total Number of Citations : 1400+ (Source: NASA/ADS)
H-index : 21; Total Number of Citations : 1750+ (Source: Google Scholar)
For publications and citation metrics on NASA/ADS: click here
For publications and citation metrics on Google Scholar: click here

Number of papers in various international journals

Journal

Impact Factor (2023-24)

 Number of Papers
Nature Astronomy (Nat Astron) 15.647 1
Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJL) 8.811 1
Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) 6.240 7
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP) 5.842 1
Astrophysical Journal (ApJ) 5.521 7
Astronomical Journal (AJ) 5.300 1
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) 5.235 10

 

Peer-reviewed publications

  1. M. J. Goupil, C. Catala, R. Samadi, ..., K. Verma, et al. 2024, "Predicted asteroseismic detection yield for solar-like oscillating stars with PLATO", A&A (in press)
  2. M. L. Winther, V. Aguirre Børsen-Koch, J. L. Rørsted, ..., K. Verma, et al. 2023, "Did Kepler-444 have a long-lived convective core?", MNRAS, 525, 1416
  3. F. Calura, M. Palla, L. Morselli, ..., K. Verma, et al. 2023, "A Bayesian chemical evolution model of the DustPedia Galaxy M74", MNRAS, 523, 2351
  4. K. Verma, J. L. Rørsted, A. M. Serenelli, et al. 2022, “Advanced asteroseismic modelling: breaking the degeneracy between stellar mass and initial helium abundance”, MNRAS, 515, 1492
  5. E. Spitoni, V. Aguirre Børsen-Koch, K. Verma, et al. 2022, “Disc dichotomy signature in the vertical distribution of [Mg/Fe] and the delayed gas infall scenario”, A&A, 663, A174
  6. V. Aguirre Børsen-Koch, J. L. Rørsted, A. B. Justesen, …, K. Verma, et al. 2022, “The BAyesian STellar Algorithm (BASTA): a fitting tool for stellar studies, asteroseismology, exoplanets, and Galactic archaeology”, MNRAS, 509, 4344
  7. M. S. Cunha, I. W. Roxburgh, V. Aguirre Børsen-Koch, …, K. Verma, et al. 2021, “PLATO Hare-and-Hounds exercise: Asteroseismic model fitting of main-sequence solar-like pulsators”, MNRAS, 508, 5864
  8. K. Verma, R. J. J. Grand, V. Silva Aguirre, et al. 2021, “An observational testbed for cosmological zoom-in simulations: constraining stellar migration in the solar cylinder using asteroseismology”, MNRAS, 506, 759
  9. E. Spitoni, K. Verma, V. Silva Aguirre, et al. 2021, “APOGEE DR16: a multi-zone chemical evolution model for the Galactic disc based on MCMC methods”, A&A, 647, A73
  10. A. Pietrinferni, S. L. Hidalgo, S. Cassisi, …, K. Verma, et al. 2021, “The updated BaSTI stellar evolution models and isochrones: II. Alpha-enhanced calculations”, ApJ, 908, 102
  11. P. E. Nissen, J. Christensen-Dalsgaard, J. R. Mosumgaard, …, K. Verma, et al. 2020, “High-precision abundances of elements in solar-type stars: Evidence of two distinct sequences in abundance-age relations”, A&A, 640, A81
  12. E. Spitoni, K. Verma, V. Silva Aguirre, et al. 2020, “Galactic archaeology with asteroseismic ages part II: Confirmation of a delayed gas infall using Bayesian analysis based on MCMC methods”, A&A, 635, A58
  13. V. Silva Aguirre, D. Stello, A. Stokholm, …, K. Verma, et al. 2020, “Detection and characterisation of oscillating red giants: first results from the TESS satellite”, ApJL, 889, L34
  14. W. J. Chaplin, A. M. Serenelli, A. Miglio, …, K. Verma, et al. 2020, “Age dating of an early Milky Way merger via asteroseismology of the naked-eye star ν Indi”, Nat Astron, 4, 382
  15. K. Verma, V. Silva Aguirre, 2019, “Helium settling in F stars: constraining turbulent mixing using the observed helium glitch signature”, MNRAS, 489, 1850
  16. D. Huber, W. J. Chaplin, A. Chontos, …, K. Verma, et al. 2019, “A hot saturn orbiting an oscillating late subgiantdiscovered by TESS”, AJ, 157, 245
  17. K. Verma, K. Raodeo, S. Basu, et al. 2019, “Helium abundance in a sample of cool stars: measurements from asteroseismology”, MNRAS, 483, 4678
  18. B. Nsamba, T. L. Campante, M. J. P. F. G. Monteiro, …, K. Verma, et al. 2018, “Asteroseismic modelling of solar-type stars: internal systematics from input physics and surface correction methods”, MNRAS, 477, 5052
  19. S. L. Hidalgo, A. Pietrinferni, S. Cassisi, …, K. Verma, et al. 2018, “The updated BaSTI stellar evolution models and isochrones. I. solar-scaled calculations”, ApJ, 856, 125
  20. K. Verma, K. Raodeo, H. M. Antia, et al. 2017, “Seismic measurement of the locations of the base of convection zone and helium ionization zone for stars in the Kepler seismic LEGACY sample”, ApJ, 837, 47
  21. ​V. Silva Aguirre, M. N. Lund, H. M. Antia, …, K. Verma, et al. 2017, “Standing on the shoulders of dwarfs: the Keplerasteroseismic LEGACY sample. II. radii, masses, and ages”, ApJ, 835, 173
  22. M. N. Lund, V. Silva Aguirre, G. R. Davies, …, K. Verma, et al. 2017, “Standing on the shoulders of dwarfs: the Keplerasteroseismic LEGACY sample. I. oscillation mode parameters”, ApJ, 835, 172
  23. K. Verma, S. Hanasoge, J. Bhattacharya, et al. 2016, “Asteroseismic determination of fundamental parameters of Sun-like stars using multi-layered neural networks”, MNRAS, 461, 4206
  24. D. R. Reese, W. J. Chaplin, G. R. Davies, …, K. Verma, et al. 2016, “SpaceInn hare-and-hounds exercise: estimation of stellar properties using space-based asteroseismic data”, A&A, 592, A14
  25. W. J. Chaplin, M. N. Lund, R. Handberg, …, K. Verma, et al. 2015, “Asteroseismology of solar-type stars with K2: detection of oscillations in C1 data”, PASP, 127, 1038
  26. T. Appourchaux, H. M. Antia, W. H. Ball, …, K. Verma, et al. 2015, “A seismic and gravitationally bound double star observed by Kepler. Implication for the presence of a convective core”, A&A, 582, A25
  27. K. Verma, H. M. Antia, S. Basu, et al. 2014, “A theoretical study of acoustic glitches in low-mass main-sequence stars”, ApJ, 794, 114
  28. K. Verma, J. P. Faria, H. M. Antia, et al. 2014, “Asteroseismic estimate of helium abundance of a solar analog binary system”, ApJ, 790, 138
     

Conference proceedings 

  1. B. Nsamba, T. L. Campante, M. J. P. F. G. Monteiro, ..., K. Verma, et. al. 2018, "Model physics in low-mass solar-type stars: atomic diffusion and metallicity mixture", proceeding of PHOST (Physics of Oscillating Stars) - a conference in honour of Prof. H. Shibahashi, doi:10.5281/zenodo.1468510
  2. K. Verma, J. P. Faria, H. M. Antia, et al. 2015, “Asteroseismic estimate of helium abundance of 16 Cyg A, B”, EPJ Web of conferences, 101, 06066

Workshop organized

  1. LOC-Convener of the 3rd Aditya-L1 Workshop, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, India, February 25-27, 2023
     

Invited/contributed seminars/talks

  1. Invited talk entitled "Constraints from Glitches" in the PLATO Stellar Science Conference, Milazzo, Italy, June 26, 2023
  2. Invited talk entitled "Glitch Fitting Algorithm and Tests" in the PLATO WP12 HOW#3 virtual workshop on "Simulations and Validation", December 13, 2022
  3. Invited talk entitled “A comparison of the predictions of Auriga simulations with the APOKASC and Gaia data” in the Chemical Evolution of Galaxies: the next 25 years workshop, Sexten Center for Astrophysics, Sexten, Italy, January 11, 2020
  4. Contributed talk entitled “Helium settling in F stars: Constraining turbulent mixing using observed signature of helium ionization” in the TASC5/KASC12 workshop, MIT Cambridge, USA, July 23, 2019
  5. Invited seminar entitled “Asteroseismology as a tool to study stellar physics and Galactic chemical evolution” at the Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade do Porto, Portugal, July 10, 2019
  6. Contributed talk entitled “Studying mixing in the outer layers using signatures of the acoustic glitches from Kepler data” in the TASC4/KASC11 workshop, Aarhus University, Denmark, July 13, 2018
  7. Contributed talk entitled “Constraining additional mixing processes using the observed helium signature in oscillation frequencies from Kepler” in the EWASS special session, Liverpool, UK, April 3, 2018
  8. Contributed talk entitled “Seismic estimate of the envelope helium abundance for stars in Kepler seismic LEGACY sample” in the TASC3/KASC10 workshop, University of Birmingham, UK, July 19, 2017
  9. Invited seminar entitled “Seismic study of Sun-like stars using glitch analysis and machine learning approaches” at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India, September 14, 2016
  10. Invited seminar entitled “Asteroseismology of Sun-like main-sequence stars: inferences using acoustic glitch signatures and machine learning approaches” at the Aarhus University, Denmark, May 26, 2016
  11. Contributed talk entitled “Asteroseismic inference of convection-zone depth and envelope helium abundance” in the Advances in Seismology: A Dialogue Across Disciplines conference, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, December 9, 2015
  12. Invited seminar entitled “Seismology of solar-like stars” in the Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science, Osaka University, Japan, November 30, 2015
     

Workshops/conferences/schools attended/participated

  1. MIAPbP workshop on "Stellar astrophysics in the era of Gaia, spectroscopic, and asteroseismic surveys", Munich Institute for Astro-, Particle and BioPhysics, Germany, July 31–August 11, 2023
  2. PLATO WP12 HOW#3 virtual workshop on "Simulations and Validation", December 12–13, 2022
  3. MW-GAIA workshop on "Fundamental stellar parameters from asteroseismology: the connection with exoplanet studies in the era of Gaia", Aarhus University, Denmark, June 13–15, 2022
  4. PLATO WP12 HOW#2 virtual workshop on "Uncertainties in stellar properties determination", April 12–15, 2021
  5. PLATO WP12 HOW#1 virtual workshop on "PLATO Stellar Analysis Pipeline: architecture, workflow, dataflow", November 4–6, 2020
  6. Chemical Evolution of Galaxies: the next 25 years workshop, Sexten Center for Astrophysics, Sexten, Italy, January 7–11, 2020
  7. PLATO STESCI workshop III, Residencia de Investigadores, Barcelona, Spain, November 19–22, 2019
  8. TASC5/KASC12 workshop, MIT Cambridge, USA, July 22–26, 2019
  9. TASC4/KASC11 workshop, Aarhus University, Denmark, July 8–13, 2018
  10. EWASS special session, Liverpool, UK, April 3–6, 2018
  11. Summer School on "Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)", University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, August 14–18, 2017
  12. TASC3/KASC10 workshop, University of Birmingham, UK, July 16–21, 2017
  13. Advances in Seismology: A Dialogue Across Disciplines conference, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, December 7–11, 2015
  14. Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science, Osaka University, Japan, November 30–December 4, 2015
  15. DWIH Indo-German winter school on "Solar and stellar astrophysics", Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, November 3–7, 2014
  16. 24th Evry Schatzman school on "Asteroseismology and next generation stellar models", Station Biologique de Roscoff, France, September 28–October 3, 2014
  17. 9th Heidelberg Astronomy summer school on "Frontiers of stellar structure and evolution", Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg, Germany, September 22–27, 2014
  18. 4th IIA-PennState school on "Astrostatistics", Vainu Bappu Observatory, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India, July 22–29, 2013
  19. Winter School on "Astronomical and cosmological surveys", Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, December 10–17, 2012
  1. Member of the Astronomical Society of India (2022).
  2. Awarded the Spanish Juan de la Cierva Incorporación Fellowship (2021); amount 93,000 Euro (~INR 75 lakhs) for 3 years.
  3. Received the Seal of Excellence certificate from the European Commission for the MSCA project (2021).
  4. Member of the International Astronomical Union (2020).
  5. Member of the ESA PLATO Mission Consortium (2020).
  6. Invited for interview for the French CNES Postdoctoral Fellowship (2020). I had to withdraw the application at this stage because I already accepted an offer from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
  7. Offered Research Associate position (2020), University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. I could not travel to Australia because of the border restrictions imposed to fight against COVID19, and eventually declined the offer.
  8. Member of the European Astronomical Society (2019).
  9. Member of the NASA TESS Asteroseismic Science Consortium (2017).
  10. Offered Postdoctoral Fellowship (2016), Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal. Declined.
  11. Ratanbai Jerajani Award (2014), the best seminar in the area of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India.
  12. Member of the NASA Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium (2012).
  13. Received the Junior Research Fellowship (2010) in the subject of Physical Sciences from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. 

UG/PG teaching

  1. Classical, Quantum and Relativistic Mechanics (PHY101): Undergraduate Course at IIT (BHU)
  2. Computational Physics (PHY202): Undergraduate Course at IIT (BHU)
  3. Electromagnetic Waves (EP301): Undergraduate Course at IIT (BHU)
  4. Relativistic Electrodynamics (PHY302): Undergraduate Course at IIT (BHU)
  5. Advanced Mathematical Methods (PHY307): Undergraduate Course at IIT (BHU)
  6. Classical Electrodynamics (PYM404): Postgraduate Course at IIT (BHU)
  7. Computational Physics (PYM411): Postgraduate Course at IIT (BHU)
  8. Advanced Mathematical Methods (PYM412): Postgraduate Course at IIT (BHU)
     

PhD thesis

  1. Anjali Singh (Ongoing), Junior Research Fellow (institute TA), IIT (BHU), Varanasi
     

UG/PG thesis

  1. Yashwardhan Sable (Ongoing), 5-year IDD Engineering Physics Student, M. Tech. project, IIT (BHU), Varanasi
  2. Rishikesh Sahu (Ongoing), 5-year IDD Engineering Physics Student, UG project, IIT (BHU), Varanasi
  3. Advik Gupta (Ongoing), 5-year IDD Engineering Physics Student, Stream project, IIT (BHU), Varanasi
  4. Ankit Anangpal Singh (Ongoing), 2-year MSc Physics Student, MSc project, IIT (BHU), Varanasi
  5. V. R. S. Sharan (Ongoing), 5-year IDD Engineering Physics Student, M. Tech. project, IIT (BHU), Varanasi
  6. Krishn Kumar Bhojwal (2023), 5-year IDD Engineering Physics Student, UG project, IIT (BHU), Varanasi
  7. Jonas Dornonville de la Cour (2018), Bachelor project, Aarhus University, Denmark
     

Exploratory project

  1. Aryan Kankarwal (Ongoing), 5-year IDD Engineering Physics Student, IIT (BHU), Varanasi
  2. Advik Gupta (May 2023), 5-year IDD Engineering Physics Student, IIT (BHU), Varanasi
  3. Rishikesh Sahu (May 2023), 5-year IDD Engineering Physics Student, IIT (BHU), Varanasi
  4. Akash Sarkar (May 2023), 5-year IDD Engineering Physics Student, IIT (BHU), Varanasi
  5. Dhawal Jain (May 2023), 5-year IDD Engineering Physics Student, IIT (BHU), Varanasi
     

Summer internship

  1. Sasi Mitra Behara (May 2023 - June 2023), 2nd Year BSMS Student, IISER, Tirupati
  2. Nandana J. (May 2023 - June 2023), 3rd Year Integrated M.Sc. Student, UM-DAE-CEBS, Mumbai

Referee/reviewer

  • The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ) 
  • Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A)
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS)
  • Observing proposals for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT)