Employment (current) Professor Physics and Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA 2016 School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK Professor of Gravitational Physics 2003
Employment (past) Associate Director, Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA 2017-2021 Lecturer, Senior Lecturer & Reader, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK Professor of Gravitational Physics, UK, 1996-2003 Visiting Professor, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA, 1996 Assistant Professor, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pune, India 1993-1995
Professional Training Postdoctoral Fellow, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy 1992 Postdoctoral Fellow, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pune, India 1989-1991 Council for Scientific & Industrial Research, Postdoctoral Fellow, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India 1988
Education 1987 PhD, Theoretical Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India 1981 MSc, Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India 1979 BSc, Major in Physics, Chemistry and MathematicsBangalore University, Bangalore, India
Publications
B.S. Sathyaprakash's research group
| Name | Role | Affiliation | Phone | Office Address | Affiliated Center(s) | Research Topics(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Koustav Chandra | Postdoc | Astronomy, Physics | kbc5795@psu.edu | -- | 307 Whitmore Laboratory | IGC | Gravitational Waves, Black Holes, Multimessenger Astrophysics |
 | Viviana Cáceres | Graduate Student | Physics | vac5288@psu.edu | 7872344444 | 114 Osmond Laboratory | CMA | Black Holes, Gravitational Waves |
 | Yixuan Dang | Graduate Student | Physics | ykd5167@psu.edu | 8142802592 | 114 Osmond Laboratory | IGC | Gravitational Waves |
 | Arnab Dhani | Graduate Student | Physics | aud371@psu.edu | +1 814 865 7533 | 317 Whitmore Laboratory | IGC | Gravitational Waves, Black Holes |
 | Rossella Gamba | Postdoc | Physics | rjg6040@psu.edu | N.A. | 305 Whitmore Laboratory | IGC | Black Holes, Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves |
 | Ish Gupta | Graduate Student | Physics | ishgupta@psu.edu | +1 814 865 7533 | 317 Whitmore Laboratory | IGC | Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves, Black Holes |
 | Sanika Khadkikar | Graduate Student | Physics, ICDS | sbk6031@psu.edu | -- | 317 Whitmore Laboratory | CMA | Multimessenger Astrophysics |
 | Shiksha Pandey | Graduate Student | Physics | spp5950@psu.edu | -- | 312 Whitmore Laboratory | IGC | Gravitational Waves, Dark Matter |
 | Vaishak Prasad | Postdoc | Physics, Astronomy | vaishakprasad@psu.edu | +1 (814) 280 1977 | 307 McAllister | IGC | Black Holes, Gravitational Waves |
B.S. Sathyaprakash's former research group members
| Name | Role | Affiliation | Phone | Office Address | Affiliated Center(s) | Research Topics(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Becca Ewing | Faculty | Physics | ree55@psu.edu | -- | 301 Whitmore Laboratory | IGC, CMA | Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics |
 | Anuradha Gupta | Postdoc | Physics | axg645@psu.edu | -- | - NONE | CMA | Gravitational Waves, Black Holes |
 | Rachael Huxford | Faculty | Physics | reh255@psu.edu | -- | 317 Whitmore Laboratory | IGC | Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics |
 | Rahul Kashyap | Postdoc | Physics | rkk5314@psu.edu | -- | 307 Whitmore Laboratory | IGC | Gravitational Waves, Multimessenger Astrophysics |
 | Nilay Mancini | Graduate Student | Physics | nkm5669@psu.edu | +39 3317503656 | 321B Whitmore Laboratory | IGC | Mathematical Structures |
 | Surabhi Sachdev | Postdoc | Physics | szs1416@psu.edu | -- | - NONE | CMA | Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves, Black Holes |
 | Divya Singh | Faculty | Physics | dus960@psu.edu | -- | 301 Whitmore Laboratory | IGC | Gravitational Waves, Dark Matter, Black Holes |
 | Mukesh Singh | Graduate Student | Astronomy | mks7196@psu.edu | 8142808735 | 317 Whitmore Laboratory | IGC | Multimessenger Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves |
B.S. Sathyaprakash's research group news
Black holes of all shapes and sizes in new gravitational wave catalog
2021-11-08
The largest catalog of gravitational wave events ever assembled has been released by an international collaboration that includes members of the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos. Gravitational waves are ripples in space time produced as aftershocks of huge astronomical events, such as the collision of two black holes. Using a global network of detectors, the research team identified 35 gravitational wave events, bringing the total number of observed events to 90 since detection efforts began in 2015.
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Observation of gravitational waves from two neutron star-black hole mergers
2021-07-02
The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Scientific Collaboration, has announced the discovery of two neutron star-black hole mergers in the data from the third observing run, separated by 10 days on 5 and 15 January 2021. The IGC LIGO group played a crucial role in this new discovery: Both of these mergers were detected as part of real-time gravitational wave processing conducted by members of the IGC LIGO group. LIGO and Virgo detectors have previously observed the merger of dozens of binary black holes and two binary neutron stars. Neutron star-black hole binaries were believed to exist but this is the first time ever astronomers have witnessed such a phenomena. In each case, the neutron star was likely swallowed whole by its black-hole partner without emitting any electromagnetic radiation. The system observed on January 5 had companion masses of 1.5 solar mass for the neutron star and 5.6 solar mass for the black hole, while the one observed on January 15 had masses 1.9 solar mass for the neutron star and 8.7 solar mass for the black hole. Both the systems came from roughly a distance of 300 Mpc. The details of the announcement can be found in the Penn State News Article.
Q&A with the Penn State LIGO Group
2020-11-09
Chad Hanna, associate professor of physics and of astronomy and astrophysics; B.S. Sathyaprakash, Elsbach Professor of Physics and Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics; and graduate students Rebecca Ewing, Rachael Huxford and Divya Singh discuss discoveries made in the third LIGO-Virgo run that increased the number of observed binary coalescences from 11 to 50.
On May 21, 2019 the Advanced LIGO detectors at Hanford and Livingston in the USA and the Virgo detector in Italy, observed a gravitational wave signal from the heaviest merger of black holes, yet observed.
2020-09-01
The merging black holes being roughly 85 and 66 times as heavy as our sun, are among the heaviest ones seen yet. The LIGO group at PSU played a significant role in the observation of this very short and difficult to detect signal which lasted for about one tenth of a second. The remnant produced by the merger is as heavy as about 142 times the mass of our sun which places it in the category of intermediate-mass black holes, an elusive type of heavy black holes that had not been observed directly so far. Being heavier than the black holes observed which have masses comparable to our sun, but less heavy than the supermassive black holes that occupy the centres of galaxies, these intermediate-mass black holes and their formation methods are not well understood by astrophysicists. In fact this discovery is also unusual because it questions existing astrophysical models of black hole formation and stands to open new doors in our understanding of these objects.
LIGO-Virgo finds mystery object in mass gap
2020-06-01
On August 14, 2019, the two Advanced LIGO detectors in the US, at Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana, and the Advanced Virgo detector in Cascina, Italy, observed a gravitational wave signal produced by the inspiral and merger of two compact objects - one, a black hole, and the other of undetermined nature. The mass measured for the lighter compact object makes it either the lightest black hole or the heaviest neutron star ever discovered in a system of two compact objects, but we can’t be sure which it is. This is also the most asymmetric system observed in gravitational waves as of now. This event was detected in real time by the GstLAL inspiral pipeline which is developed and operated largely by the LIGO group at Penn State.
LIGO detects another probable Neutron Star collision
2020-05-02
Gravitational waves detected on April 25, 2019, by the LIGO Livingston Observatory were likely produced by a collision of two neutron stars, according to a new study by an international team including Penn State researchers. IGC members Patrick Godwin, Ryan Magee, B. Sathyaprakash and Surabhi Suchdev explain why this discovery is so exciting. This detection was made possible by the GSTLAL online software developed by faculty and postdocs at the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos. The total mass of the binary is significantly larger than all such systems we know in our galaxy and challenging astrophysical models of the formation of binary black holes.
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Two probable black-hole mergers spotted in first weeks after gravitational-wave detector is updated
2019-06-16
Two new probable gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of spacetime caused by cataclysmic cosmic events and first predicted by Albert Einstein over 100 years ago — have been detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo observatory in Italy in the first weeks after the detectors were updated. The IGC team of LIGO scientists, led by Chad Hanna, played a critical role.
LIGO and Virgo observatories detect neutron star smash-ups
2019-06-01
IGC researchers Cody Messick, Ryan Magee and Alexander Pace provide their perspectives.
B. Sathyaprakash has been elected Fellow of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation
2019-01-01
B. Sathyaprakash has been elected Fellow of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation “for his wide-ranging contributions to all aspects of theoretical investigations of gravitational waves, outstanding service to the international gravitational community, and for his leadership in shaping the future of the field through third-generation detectors both in Europe and the US.”
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