Sowgata Chowdhury

Sowgata Chowdhury is a Ph.D. candidate at the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center (CAMK) in Warsaw.

Prof. Gerald Handler supervises his doctoral work, and the thesis is currently titled as: "TESSting the interior structure of supernovae progenitors".

Academically, his research focuses on hot and massive stars, in particular the Beta Cephei type of variable stars. Beta Cephei stars are progenitors of supernovae, meaning they end their lives in gigantic explosions thereby enriching the interstellar medium. Studying them using asteroseismology is crucial for multiple reasons.

Using TESS satellite photometric data along with ground based low and high resolution spectroscopy, Sowgata is involved in a southern hemisphere survey of Beta Cephei stars, where many known variables are confirmed while some variables are newly discovered. All the confirmed Beta Cephei stars are statistically studied in detail as a variable star group, as it has not yet been done using modern space satellites. Many interesting results are found including a candidate post-main sequence Beta Cephei star which is a first member of its kind. Few interesting targets are also selected for their detailed asteroseismic modeling. The positive prospects of massive star asteroseismology is expected to be reflected from this work.

Research interests

• stellar variability - pulsation and rotation,
• asteroseismology,
• hot and massive stars.

Degrees and titles

• 2018: M.Sc. in Physics, Christ University, Bangalore (India),
• 2014: B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering, Tezpur University, Tezpur (India).