Vivek Kumar Jha
Postdoctoral Researcher in Astrophysics — exploring galaxy evolution and AGNs using advanced modeling and multi-wavelength data
About Me Postdoctoral Fellow at NCRA-TIFR, Pune. Previously at MCNS, Manipal and ARIES, Nainital. Ph.D. in Astrophysics from ARIES (2024).
Employment Postdoctoral Fellow at NCRA-TIFR (2024–), previously MCNS and ARIES. Five research positions across Pune, Manipal and Nainital.
- Postdoctoral FellowNational Centre for Radio Astrophysics – TIFR, Pune, India
- Postdoctoral FellowManipal Centre for Natural Sciences (MCNS), Manipal, India
- Project Associate (Scientific)ARIES, Nainital, India
- Senior Research Fellow (SRF)ARIES, Nainital, India
- Junior Research Fellow (JRF)ARIES, Nainital, India
Education Ph.D. in Astrophysics from ARIES (2018–2023), M.Sc. from BHU, B.Sc. from Delhi University.
- Ph.D. in AstrophysicsAryabhatta Research Institute of observational sciencES (ARIES), Nainital, India.
Supervised by Dr. Hum Chand and co-supervised by Prof. Shantanu Rastogi. Thesis submitted to: Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, India. (submitted in September 2023 and awarded in February 2024) - M.Sc. in PhysicsBanaras Hindu University. Specialization in Space Physics.
- B.Sc. in Physics (Honors)Deshbandhu College, University of Delhi. Foundation in physics and mathematics.
Research LSST Galaxies collaboration — SPS modeling of galaxies; AGN inner regions via UV-optical variability.
I'm currently working with the LSST Galaxies collaboration, focusing on stellar population synthesis (SPS) modeling to derive physical properties of galaxies from broadband photometry. You can learn more about this work here.
During my Ph.D., I worked on mapping the inner regions of AGN using UV-optical variability and multi-band observations to understand structure and kinematics on sub-parsec scales. I continue to work on interesting projects related to the variability of AGN. Check out this animation for a visual on quasar interiors (courtesy ESO).
I'm also a member of the LSST AGN Science collaboration, where I follow developments in time-domain science with AGNs, with the volume of data arriving from the Rubin/LSST. For those new to the field, I've curated a collection of review articles on AGNs — view the collection here.
Read MorePublications Selected papers in ApJ and MNRAS on AGN variability, jet-induced microvariability, and accretion disk sizes.
Selected Publications
- Exploring the Origins of Optical Variability in Active Galactic Nuclei: Correlations with Black Hole Properties, X-Ray, and Radio Emission. ApJ, Volume 1001, Issue 1, 2026.
- Probing jet-induced optical variability across time-scales in radio-loud NLSy1 galaxies. MNRAS, Volume 545, Issue 3, 2026.
- Evidence of Jet induced Optical Microvariability in Radio-loud Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies. MNRAS, Volume 514, Issue 4, 2023.
- Accretion Disk Sizes from Continuum Reverberation Mapping of AGN Selected from the ZTF Survey. MNRAS, Volume 511, Issue 2, 2022.
- A comparative study of the physical properties for a representative sample of Narrow and Broad-line Seyfert galaxies. MNRAS Volume 510, Issue 3, 2022.
Link to view all my publications: NASA-ADS
Software Python, JAVELIN, SED Grid, Astro Tools; ARIES data archive contributor and open-source pipelines.
- Fluent in Python, with extensive experience in scientific computing, visualisation, and automation of research workflows.
- Development of SED Grid, an interactive, pre-computed tool to explore how galaxy physical parameters shape their SEDs.
- Contributor to the ARIES data archive team; developed software for effective data management.
- Extensive use of JAVELIN (MCMC-based) for time series analysis; also familiar with ICCF, DCF, etc. for cross-correlation.
- Astro Tools – a collection of astronomy utilities and scripts.
- GitHub for version control and code management.
- Past experience with IDL and some programming in FORTRAN.
- Basic knowledge of HTML/CSS; maintenance of static websites.
Telescope Experience Rubin-LSST, ZTF, SDSS, HSC-SSP, DESI, LOFAR; observations from ARIES 1.04m, 1.3m, 3.6m and TRT.
- Member of the Rubin-LSST Galaxies and AGN science collaborations.
- Worked with publicly available datasets from:
- Observed using telescopes at ARIES, Nainital:
- Remotely observed using the Thai Robotic Telescope (TRT) network, with telescopes in the USA, Australia, Thailand, and China.
- Developed and maintain an open-source Python pipeline for aperture photometry, specifically tailored to data from these facilities.
Outreach / Leadership Chair of YAM-2022, co-founder of CosmicVarta, and active science communicator.
- Event Chair for the Young Astronomers' Meet (YAM)-2022, a conference that brought together about 160 Ph.D. students working in astronomy across the country.
- Co-founder of CosmicVarta (2021), a web portal presenting simplified versions of astrophysics research articles for the general public. Managed the website until October 2022 and regularly edited articles from researchers across the country.
- Active participant in outreach activities at the institute(s), including:
- NCRA-TIFR National Science Day celebration at GMRT (28th February 2026)
- ARIES National Science Day celebration (28th February 2021)
- ARIES e-lecture series during the COVID-19 lockdown (May–June 2020)
Blog Essays on astronomy, travel, tech and academia — from the Valley of Flowers to Istanbul.
Sometimes few random things cross my mind and get structured in the form of sometimes little, sometimes eerily long blog posts. Currently, my blog is live on Substack. I write about astronomy, tech, travel, and thoughts on academia. Some articles are present here:
Gallery A visual diary of travels, nature walks, and quiet everyday scenes worth noticing.
A visual glimpse into my travels, nature walks, and everyday scenes that made me stop for a moment—sometimes to take in the light, a quiet street, or just something oddly beautiful. No big plan behind the photos—just things that felt worth noticing and saving.
