Ph.D., Astronomy, 1997, University of Arizona.
M.S. Electrical Engineering, 1990, Caltech.
B.E. Electronics & Communication Engineering, 1989, Anna University,
Madras, India.
Curriculum Vitae [ html format] [ pdf format]
List of Publications
Research Radio Astronomy, Molecular clouds and star formation. Development of advanced mm and sub-mm receivers.
Thus, millimeter (mm) and submillimeter (submm) molecular line observations provide the best opportunities to study the morphology, chemical composition and dynamics of YSOs. Low noise, heterodyne receivers at mm and submm wavelengths are the instruments of choice for observation of star-forming regions, because of their high sensitivities and spectral resolution. Therefore, many of the mysteries surrounding the star formation process can be solved by observations with sensitive mm and submm heterodyne receivers, and careful analysis of the results.
Approach: I am tackling the problem of star formation using a a multi-pronged approach. Towards this end, I am involved in the following major activities. Please follow the respective links for more details.
- Instrumentation
- Development of advanced mm and submm receivers and subsystems
- Theoretical Modeling
- Theoretical radiative transfer modeling of the emergent spectra from star-forming regions.
- Observations
- A vigorous observational program at mm and submm wavelengths with the purpose of identifying and studying protostellar objects.
Astronomy Software
I have also written a new Gildas language called (unimaginatively) FCRAO that converts FCRAO SPA data directly to the CLASS data format. For now, FCRAO is only available for linux. You can download the debian package or the redhat package for v1.1 of fcrao.
Other Astronomy Software Links:
-
SETI@Home - You too can
participate in this scientific experiment. Check out my
contribution as part of the UMass team.
- Astronomical Software on Linux
- Astroweb Astronomy software
- My Debian wip package
- Linux for Astronomy project
Debian Linux
- My PGP public key and GnuPG public key .
- My Unoffical Debian APT page. APT (Advanced Package Tool) is
one of debian's most powerful package maintaining tools. Here you will
typically find my debian packages before they appear in the official
debian site. Also available in this APT repository are specialized
astronomy packages that I don't intend to make part of the official
debian distribution. To read the description of packages take a look
at the Packages.gz file. The apt line
to add in your /etc/apt/sources.list file is
deb http://www.astro.umass.edu/~gopal/ debian/
Please use caution in using this apt site. There is a reason I am calling it unofficial. Contact me if you need help with getting a specific package. - Other interesting open source links:
Miscellaneous Links
- Chris Devries' home page. I'm guiding his PhD. thesis.
- Steward Observatory Radio Astronomy Laboratory (SORAL) - I still collaborate with them.
- Some observatory links: