SOLAR  AND  STELLAR  MAGNETISM  RESEARCH

About Us

Our group the Solar and Stellar Magnetism here @ IIT (BHU) is trying to understand the origin and dynamics of solar and stellar magnetic fields, cycles, plasma flows inside the convection zones of sun and other stars.

We apply the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model in the solar plasma to develop various types of dynamo models to understand the generation of the solar magnetic cycle and its irregularities. For the last several years, we have applied Babcock-Leighton type flux transport dynamo models to explain various long-standing problems of the solar magnetic cycles, including the Waldmier effect, Maunder and grand minima, and double peaks in the solar cycle.  Our group is  also exploring the physics of solar cycle prediction and have recently predicted the amplitude of the upcoming solar cycle. We are also involved in developing dynamo models of the magnetic cycles of the sun-like stars.

Our research team also analyses various data sets of solar magnetic field and other proxies from different ground- and space-based observatories to unveil the magnetic mysteries of the sun and sun-like stars. We also work on understanding the chaotic and nonlinear aspects of astrophysical time series. 

Dr. Bidya Binay Karak

Dr. Karak is presently an associate  professor in the Department of Physics, IIT (BHU), Varanasi.

He was also a Ramanujan Fellow through the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. He received several prestigious awards, including Young Researcher Awards (U40) from Association of Asia-Pacific Physical Societies Division of Plasma Physics (AAPPS-DPP) (2024), Humboldt fellowship from Humboldt Foundation Germany (2018) and an award: INSA Young Scientist Medal (2019) from Indian National Science Academy.
 

Dr. Karak primarily works on solar and stellar physics, specifically trying to understand the origin of the solar and stellar magnetic fields and their dynamics using magnetohydrodynamics.

Previously, he was a Chandrasekhar postdoctoral fellow at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (Jan 2018 - Apr 2018), Jack Eddy fellow (supported by NASA Living With a Star program) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Colorado, USA (Jan 2016 - Jan 2018), Guest Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany (Sept 2015 - Dec 2015), and Nordita fellow at NORDITA, Stockholm (Sept 2013 - Aug 2015).