Status of Astrophysics in Nepal
Devendra Raj Upadhyay
Department of Physics, Amrit Campus, Tribhuvan University, Thamel,
Kathmandu, Nepal
International Conference on “Growing Black Holes: Accretion and
Mergers”
15-20 May 2022
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Outlines
i) History
ii) Activities
iii) Syllabus
iv) Current Practices
v) Current Research
vi) Limitations and Delimitation
vii) Summary
viii) Acknowledgements
ix) References
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History
i) Gaureshwor Joshi wrote three books on Mathematical Astronomy (1663) which were
taken as the significant contributions in the history of Nepalese astronomy1.
ii) All the publications were written in Sanskrit
iii) Tribhuvan University offered Gravitation and Cosmology as an elective course since
1999 for Master Degree.
iv) Since 2008 Astrophysics as an elective course in the Master’s level at
Tribhuvan University.
v) Mid-West University offered Astrophysics as an elective course since 2019 for
Master Degree.
1Bhattarai & Neupane (2009)
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History
i) 2006: begun M.Sc. Dissertation in Astrophysics
ii) Spatial orientation of Galaxies in the cluster and supercluster(2006-till date)
iii) 2007: later expanded area of research
iv) ISM interactions (2007- till date)
v) Chiral Symmetry in LSS (2007)
vi) Cosmological Constant (2008)
vii) Photodissociation region (2010)
viii) Search of AGN in X-ray clusters (2012)
ix) Dwarf Galaxies (2018 - till date)
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Selected Contribution of Astrophysicists Working in
Nepal
Scimago Ranked Journal Peer reviewed journals other than
Scimago Ranked Journal
Physical Review D 2 Journal of Institute of Science and Tech-
nology
International Journal of Modern Physics BIBECHANA
A3
Modern Physics Letters A 4 Journal of Nepal Physical Society
Classical and Quantum Gravity 5 The Journal of University Grants Com-
mission
Chinese Journal of Physics 6 Himalayan Physics
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astro- Scientific World
nomical Society 7
Astronomy & Astrophysics 8 NUTA Journal
2Khanal (1985)
3Khanal (1998)
4Khanal (2000)
5Khanal (2006)
6Dhungel & Khanal (2011)
7Aryal et al. (2006, 2010); Mohorian et al. (2022)
8Aryal et al. (2006)
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Selected Contribution of Astrophysicists Working in
Nepal
Scimago Ranked Journal Peer reviewed journals other than
Scimago Ranked Journal
Astrophysics and Space Science9 International Astronomy and Astro-
physics Research Journal
Research in Astronomy and Astro- Himalayan Journal of Science and Tech-
physics10 nology
Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y As-
trofísica 11
Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy
12
Proceedings of the International Astro-
nomical Union 13
Advanced Studies in Theoretical
Physics 14
Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of
India 15
9Aryal et al. (2009)
10Aryal (2011); Yadav et al. (2017)
11Jha et al. (2017)
12Jha & Aryal (2018); Gautam & Aryal (2019)
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Few Training and Outreach Activities
Figure 1: Meade 16” LX200GPS, Schmidt-Cassegrain Optical Telescope 16.
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Few Training and Outreach Activities
Figure 2: Activities at CDP and participation at IAU.
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Few Training and Outreach Activities
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Few Training and Outreach Activities
Figure 4: Different Activities at CDP, NAST and Other campus.
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IAU Symposia: IAU S375 (5 - 9 December, 2022) 17
17https://multimessengerchakra2022.physics.uoc.gr/
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B.Sc. Syllabus: Yearly System 2017
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B.Sc. Syllabus: Yearly System 2017 18
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Syllabus: Yearly System 2011
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Syllabus: Yearly System 2011
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Syllabus: 2017
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Syllabus: 2017
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Syllabus: 2017
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Syllabus: 2017
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Syllabus: 2019: MWU
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Syllabus: 2019: MWU
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Current Outreach, Academic and Research Activities
1 Nepal Physical Society 19
2 Central Department of Physics 20
3 Constituents and affiliated Campus of Tribhuvan University
4 Kathmandu University 21
5 Mid-West University 22
6 Nepal Astronomical Society 23
7 Pokhara Astronomical Society 24
19https://nps.org.np/astrophysics/
20http://tucdp.edu.np/
21https://phys.ku.edu.np/
22http://www.mwu.edu.np/Course/science-and-technology/
23https://www.nepalastronomicalsociety.org/
24https://pokharaastrosociety.blogspot.com/
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Current Research
Till date:
i) 2 Ph.D. Thesis work related to Cosmology completed under the supervision of Prof.
Dr. Udayaraj Khanal and 3 Ph.D. Thesis completed under the supervision of Prof.
Dr. Binil Aryal
ii) Above 300 students have completed their masters thesis in A & A from different
Universities, Campuses. 25
iii) Above 100 students have completed their M.Sc. Project work, M.Sc. Term Paper,
B.Sc. Project Work
iv) 4 Ph.D. projects are running (Structure of Supercluster, ISM environment around
White Dwarf, Dwarf Galaxy, and Astroparticle Physics)
25http://tucdp.edu.np/thesis/
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Current Research
ISM Interactions AGB Stars, Pulsars, Nebula, White Dwarfs using Infrared
Survey, Strasbourg astronomical Data Center and Gaia
Archive 26
Black Hole X-ray Variability using Swift XRT Data
Parameter Estimation of Binary Black Hole from
Gravitational Wave Data using Bayesian analysis
Globular cluster Proper Motion, orbital Parameters, Kinematics Dynamical
and Chemical Properties using Gaia EDR3, Galah, LAM-
OST Data and APOOGE survey.
Binary Neutron Inferring Properties using LIGO-VIRGO-KARGA OPEN
Star DATA
Star formation rate, metallicity, morphological and spectro-
Dwarf Galaxy
scopic study
26https://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/current/cgi/titlepage.pl,http://
cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/,https://gea.esac.esa.int/archive/
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Current Research27
27Upadhayay et al. (2020)
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Current Research
Figure 5: (a) Flux at 100 𝜇 m versus 60 𝜇 m plot. (b) Flux at 140 𝜇 m versus 90 𝜇 m plot. (c) The dust color temperature
distribution of IRIS map. (d) The dust color temperature distribution of AKARI map. (e) The contour map of dust mass
distribution of IRIS. (f) The contour map dust mass distribution of AKARI. The contour levels are shown.
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Current Research
Figure 6: Normal fit of the Planck’s function distribution (a) IRIS (b) AKARI and (c) WISE map.
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Current Research
Figure 7: Variation of dust color temperature with major and minor diameter.
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Current Research
Figure 8: Linear fit between visual extinction and dust color temperature in the IRIS, AKARI and WISE maps.
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Current Research
Figure 9: Distribution of Dust Properties around Pulsar using Infrared Band.
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Current Research
Figure 10: Linear Light Curve of Mrk 421.
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Current Research
Figure 11: Best fit line of flux of Mrk 421.
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Limitations and Delimitation 28
i) NASA (2010) has reported that Nepal can be a best place for international laboratory
for cosmic radiation research at high altitude.
ii) We have more than 230 peaks having altitude more than 6000 m. It is therefore, there
is realistic possibility of having infrared, sub-mm and cosmic ray observatory in
Nepal.
iii) No research based high sensitive telescope
iv) No research based high sensitive telescope
v) No separate institute/department for A & A
vi) We use the available huge database, define science
vii) Mostly collaborative in nature
viii) No funding from internal sources for advanced research
28https://phys.org/news/2010-10-nasa-himalayan-nepal.html
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Summary
i) Most of the research related to collaborative in nature and based on theoretical and
computational research.
ii) Need to focus on observational astronomy and astrophysics.
iii) We need to encourage undergraduate and graduate students to publish in
world-standard journals after completion of their B.Sc. projects and M.Sc.
dissertation work.
iv) Universities and research centers need to focus on collaborative research and student
exchange programs.
v) We need to provide continuous training related to advanced computing, which is in
practice around the world.
vi) Two high-performance computing facility established at TU and KU.
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Acknowledgements
Organizing Committee: International Conference on “Growing Black Holes:
Accretion and Mergers”
University Grants Commission, Nepal.
Dr. Gopal Bhatta (Institute of Nuclear Physics, Poland).
Bhanu Bhakta Sapkota (Mahendra Ratna Campus, Tahachal, TU), Yogesh Singh
Maharjan (Amrit Campus, TU), Madhu Sudan Paudel (Tri-Chandra Multiple
Campus, TU), Raj Kumar Pradhan (PAS), Dinesh Biswakarma (KU), Aaush Gautam
(BMC, TU).
Undergraduate and graduate students.
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References
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Happy Buddha Jayanti
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