International workshop on Astrophysics and Cosmology at CHARUSAT

Marks its beginning with international astronomers in presence

A five day international workshop on astrophysics and cosmology has been organized by the International Centre for Cosmology (ICC) of the CHARUSAT University from 20 December to 24 December. The workshop marked its beginning after an inauguration ceremony graced by eminent guests including the founding director of ICC Prof. Pankaj Joshi, Secretary of the Development Committee Dr. M. C. Patel, Prof. Andres Crolark of institute of Mathematics in Poland and Prof. Ken Ichi from the Osaka University, Japan.

More than 70 delegates including graduate, post graduate, under-graduate, Ph.D students as well as faculties and international astronomers will be taking part in this 5-day workshop. The workshop will see 39 participants from Gujarat while other participants have headed down from various parts of India like Delhi, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The workshop will also have delegates from countries like Poland, China and Japan in participation.

The purpose of this first-ever astrophysics and cosmology workshop in CHARUSAT University is to bring internationally renowned scientists and researchers together to share their knowledge on key contemporary topics like gravitational waves, gravitational collapse, gravitational lensing and shadow, dark matter and dark energy.

As told by organizing secretaries of the workshop Dr. Rucha Desai and Dr. Dipanjan Dey, the workshop is to host 8 planetary talks, 6 talk events withinvited scientists and 13 oral and poster presentations by the young and budding scientists. The aim of organizing talks with invited scientists is to inspire the youth by sharing knowledge and new age thoughts in the area of development in astrophysics and cosmology.

The workshop has lined up various sessions and events of invited speakers which include Prof. Andres Crolark, Prof. Ken Ichi Nakao, Dr. Tomohiro Karada, Riyoko University, Japan, Prof. Banibrata Mukhopadhyay (IISC, Bangalore), Dr. Jun-Kwi-Gwo (China), Prof. Dharamveer Ahluwalia (ICC, Gujarat) and Prof. Raghavan Rangarajan (Dean, Ahmedabad University).

The welcome speech in the inaugural session was delivered by Dr. Rucha Desai, which was followed by an informative note on the journey of CHARUSAT by Dr. Devang Joshi. Dr. M.C. Patel, the Secretary of Development Committee of CHARUSAT addressed the delegates on the occasion and conveyed his best wishes to them with an expression of desire to see lasting ties be formed. While Dr. Pankaj Joshi – the founding director of ICC, asserted in his keynote address that this workshop will give the youth an opportunity to exchange new ideas and thoughts.