arXiv subjects

Banibrata Mukhopadhyay

Publications and source records attributed to Banibrata Mukhopadhyay.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Astrophysics with Compact Objects: An Indian Perspective, Present Status and Future Vision

Astrophysical compact objects, viz., white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, are the remnants of stellar deaths at the end of their life cycles. They are ideal testbeds for various fundamental physical processes under extreme conditions that are unique in nature. Observational radio astronomy with uGMRT and OORT facilities has led to several important breakthroughs in studies of different kinds of pulsars and their emission mechanisms. On the other hand, accretion processes around compact objects are at the core of Indian astronomy research. In this context, AstroSat mission revolutionized spectro-temporal observations and measurements of accretion phenomena, quasi-periodic oscillations, and jet behaviour in binary systems hosting compact objects. Moreover, recently launched XPoSat mission is set to provide an impetus to these high-energy phenomena around compact objects by enabling us to conduct polarization measurements in the X-ray band. Further, during the past decade, numerous gravitational wave signals have been observed from coalescing black holes and neutron stars in binary systems. Recent simultaneous observation of the GW170817 event in both gravitational waves and electromagnetic channels has ushered in the era of multi-messenger astronomy. In the future, synergistic efforts among several world-class observational facilities, e.g., LIGO-India, SKA, TMT, etc., within the Indian astrophysics community will provide a significant boost to achieve several key science goals that have been delineated here. In general, this article plans to highlight scientific projects being pursued across Indian institutions in this field, the scientific challenges that this community would be focusing on, and the opportunities in the coming decade. Finally, we have also mentioned the required resources, both in the form of infrastructural and human resources.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Disk-Outflow Symbiosis in GRMHD Simulations: Explaining Hard-State ULXs

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) have captivated researchers for decades due to their exceptionally high luminosities and unique spectral characteristics. Some of these sources defy expectations by exhibiting super-Eddington luminosities with respect to stellar mass sources even in their low-hard state. Numerical steady-state calculations suggest that ULXs in this state can be explained as highly magnetized advective accretion sources around stellar-mass black holes. To explore this further, we employ GRMHD simulations using the publicly available code, BHAC (Black Hole Accretion Code), to model the behavior of highly magnetized advective accretion flows around a black hole. Our simulations demonstrate that such systems can indeed produce the intense luminosities observed in ULXs. Additionally, we validate that the magnetic fields required for these high emissions are of the order of $10^7$ Gauss, consistent with previous numerical steady-state findings.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Superconductivity in magnetars: Exploring type-I and type-II states in toroidal magnetic fields

We present a first two-dimensional general-relativistic analysis of superconducting regions in axially symmetric highly magnetized neutron star (magnetar) models with toroidal magnetic fields. We investigate the topology and distribution of type-II and type-I superconducting regions for varying toroidal magnetic field strengths and stellar masses by solving the Einstein-Maxwell equations using the XNS code. Our results reveal that the outer cores of low- to intermediate-mass magnetars sustain superconductivity over larger regions compared to higher-mass stars with non-trivial distribution of type-II and type-I regions. Consistent with previous one-dimensional (1D) models, we find that regardless of the gravitational mass, the inner cores of magnetars with toroidal magnetic fields are devoid of $S$-wave proton superconductivity. Furthermore, these models contain non-superconducting, torus-shaped regions - a novel feature absent in previous 1D studies. Finally, we speculate on the potential indirect effects of superconductivity on continuous gravitational wave emissions from millisecond pulsars, such as PSR J1843-1113, highlighting their relevance for future gravitational wave detectors.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

Simulating ULXs and blazars as GRMHD accretion flows around a black hole

General relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations have been instrumental in our understanding of high energy astrophysical phenomena over the past two decades. Their robustness and modularity make them a great tool for understanding the dynamics of various astrophysical objects. In this paper we have used GRMHD simulations to understand the accretion flows of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) and blazars. ULXs are enigmatic sources which exhibit very high luminosities (super-Eddington for stellar mass black holes) even in their low-hard state. Numerical steady state calculations have shown that this behaviour can be explained by considering ULXs to be highly magnetised advective accretion sources around stellar-mass black holes. Our simulation confirms that such an accretion flow can indeed produce the high luminosities observed in ULXs. Further to continue towards the supermassive black holes, we have also modeled blazars and have used our simulation results to explain the apparent dichotomy in the two blazar classes: flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and BL Lacertae (BL Lacs). Our results show that FSRQ and BL Lacs show different spectral characteristics due to a difference in their magnetic field characteristics. The different categories of FSRQs and BL Lacs have also been explained by the interplay between the spin, magnetic field and accretion rate of the central supermassive black hole.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Gravitational physics in the context of Indian astronomy: A vision document

Contributions from the Indian gravity community have played a significant role in shaping several branches of astronomy and astrophysics. This document reviews some of the most important contributions and presents a vision for gravity research in the context of astronomy \& astrophysics in India. This is an expanded version of one of the chapters in the recently released Vision Document of the Astronomical Society of India.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Uncovering deterministic behavior of black hole IGR J17091-3624: A twin of GRS 1915+105

Understanding nonlinear properties in accreting systems, particularly for black holes, from observation is illuminating as they are expected to be general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic flows that are nonlinear. Two features associated with nonlinear systems, used commonly, are chaos, which is deterministic, and random, which is stochastic. The differentiation between chaotic and stochastic systems is often considered to quantify the nonlinear properties of an astrophysical system. The particular emphasis is that data is often noise-contaminated and finite. We examine the dual nature of the black hole X-ray binary IGR J17091-3624, whose behavior has been closely studied in parallel to GRS 1915+105. Certain similarities in the temporal classes of these two objects are explored in literature. However, this has not been the case with their non-linear dynamics: GRS 1915+105 shows signs of determinism and stochasticity both, while IGR J17091-3624 was found to be predominantly stochastic. Here, we confront the inherent challenge of noise contamination faced by previous studies, particularly Poisson noise, which adversely impacts the reliability of non-linear results. We employ several denoising techniques to mitigate noise effects and employ methods like Principal Component Analysis, Singular Value Decomposition, and Correlation Integral to isolate the deterministic signatures. We have found signs of determinism in IGR J17091-3624, thus supporting the hypothesis of it being similar to GRS 1915+105, even as a dynamical system. Our findings not only shed light on the complex nature of IGR J17091-3624 but also pave the way for future research employing noise-reduction techniques to analyze non-linearity in observed dynamical systems.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Strongly interacting matter in extreme magnetic fields

Magnetic fields are ubiquitous across different physical systems of current interest; from the early Universe, compact astrophysical objects and heavy-ion collisions to condensed matter systems. A proper treatment of the effects produced by magnetic fields during the dynamical evolution of these systems, can help to understand observables that otherwise show a puzzling behavior. Furthermore, when these fields are comparable to or stronger than Λ_QCD, they serve as excellent probes to help elucidate the physics of strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions of temperature and density. In this work we provide a comprehensive review of recent developments on the description of QED and QCD systems where magnetic field driven effects are important. These include the modification of meson static properties such as masses and form factors, the chiral magnetic effect, the description of anomalous transport coefficients, superconductivity in extreme magnetic fields, the properties of neutron stars, the evolution of heavy-ion collisions, as well as effects on the QCD phase diagram. We describe recent theory and phenomenological developments using effective models as well as LQCD methods. The work represents a state-of-the-art review of the field, motivated by presentations and discussions during the "Workshop on Strongly Interacting Matter in Strong Electromagnetic Fields" that took place in the European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas (ECT*) in the city of Trento, Italy, September 25-29, 2023.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2024

Can we detect super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs via continuous gravitational waves?

The existence of massive white dwarfs (WDs) containing more than Chandrasekhar's maximum mass has been suggested via the detection of peculiar type Ia Supernovae. It had been crucial to directly detect those 'super' (more massive)-Chandrasekhar WDs to confirm their existence. The WD's small size and cold internal environment have been a great disadvantage for detecting them via electromagnetic surveys like GAIA and SDSS. Although many WDs are detected in optical observations, none of the super-Chandrasekhar WDs was observed directly. Mukhopadhyay and his group proposed a decade ago that one of the possibilities to explain the high mass of super-Chandrasekhar WD is to exercise the existence of a strong magnetic field in the WD interior. The group also recently proposed that a high magnetic field, in turn, can nontrivially deform the star from a spherical shape. In the presence of rotation and obliquity angle, such WDs can radiate continuous gravitational waves (CGW). This opens up the exciting possibility of detecting the super-Chandrasekhar WDs with the upcoming detector LISA. However, the gravitational wave (GW) amplitude will decay with time due to electromagnetic radiation and quadrupolar radiation. Altogether, those decay mechanisms will set a timescale for detecting WDs via CGW. Even with a timescale bound, we can expect to detect a few super-Chandrasekhar WDs with a couple of years of cumulative detection, leading to the direct detection of super-Chandrasekhar WDs.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2024

Faster rate of Hawking radiation in modified gravity constraining dark matter

The exact theory of gravity in the strong field regime is still under debate. There are observations implying the need for modification to Einstein's gravity. On the other hand, the exact constituents of dark matter are also a big puzzle, where primordial black holes (PBHs) are argued to be a potential candidate. We explore Hawking radiation in a modified gravity and find that PBHs evaporate faster in a scalar-tensor theory based modified gravity. Subsequently, all the nonrotating BHs of mass $\sim 10^{15}$ g or less should have been evaporated by today, which is an order of magnitude heavier than what the Einstein gravity predicts. This has many consequences including a strict constraint on contributing PBHs to dark matter, widening the debate of dark matter origin.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Accretion Disk-Outflow/Jet and Hard State ULXs

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) have been objects of great interest for the past few decades due to their unusually high luminosities and spectral properties. A few of these sources exhibit super-Eddington luminosities assuming them to be centering around stellar mass objects, even in their hard state. It has been shown via numerical steady state calculations that ULXs in hard state can be interpreted as highly magnetised advective accretion sources around stellar mass black holes. We use general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) framework to simulate highly magnetised advective accretion flows around a black hole and show that such systems can indeed produce high luminosities like ULXs. We also verify that the magnetic fields required for such high emissions is around $10^7$ G, in accordance with previous numerical steady state calculations. We further present power profiles for zero angular momentum observer (ZAMO) frame. These profiles show interesting features which can be interpreted as effects of emission due to the Blandford-Znajek and Blandford-Payne mechanisms.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Magnetically arrested advective accretion flows and jets/outflows around stellar mass black holes: Explaining hard state ULXs with GRMHD simulations

An optically thin advective accretion disk is crucial for explaining the hard state of black hole sources. Using general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations, we investigate how a large-scale, strong magnetic field influences accretion and outflows/jets, depending on the field geometry, magnetic field strength, and the spin parameter of the black hole. We simulate a sub-Eddington, advective disk-outflow system in the presence of a strong magnetic field, which likely remains in the hard state. The model simulations based on HARMPI successfully explain ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in the hard state, typically observed with luminosities ranging from $10^{39}$ - $10^{40}$ ergs s$^{-1}$. Our simulations generally describe the bright, hard state of stellar-mass black hole sources without requiring a super-Eddington accretion rate. This work explores the characteristics of ULXs without invoking intermediate-mass black holes. The observed high luminosity is attributed to the energy stored in the strong magnetic fields, which can generate super-Eddington luminosity. The combined energy of the matter and magnetic field leads to such significant luminosity.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Gravitational Influence on the Quantum Speed Limit in Flavor Oscillations of Neutrino-Antineutrino System

We investigate the quantum speed limit (QSL) during the time evolution of neutrino-antineutrino system under the influence of the gravitational field of a spinning primordial black hole (PBH). We derive an analytical expression for the four-vector gravitational potential in the underlying Hermitian Dirac Hamiltonian using the Boyer-Lindquist (BL) coordinates. This gravitational potential leads to an axial vector term in the Dirac equation in curved spacetime, contributing to the effective mass matrix of the neutrino-antineutrino systems. Our findings indicate that the gravitational field, expressed in BL coordinates, significantly influences the transition probabilities in two-flavor oscillations of the neutrino-antineutrino system. We then apply the expression for transition probabilities between states to analyze the Bures angle, which quantifies the closeness between the initial and final states of the time-evolved flavor state. We use this concept to probe the QSL for the time evolution of the initial flavor neutrino state.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Decoding the deterministic nature of black hole IGR J17091-3624

The differentiation between chaotic and stochastic systems has long been scrutinized, particularly in observations where data is often noise-contaminated and finite. Our research examines the dual nature of the black hole X-ray binary IGR J17091-3624, an object whose behavior has been closely studied in parallel to GRS 1915+105. Remarkable similarities in the temporal classes of these two objects are explored in literature. However, this was not the case with their non-linear dynamics: GRS 1915+105 shows signs of determinism, while IGR J17091-3624 was found to be stochastic. In this study, we confront the inherent challenge of noise contamination, as in IGR J17091-3624, faced by previous studies, particularly Poisson noise, which adversely impacts the reliability of non-linear results. We employ several denoising techniques to mitigate noise effects and employ methods like Autoencoder, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), and Correlation Integral (CI) to isolate the deterministic signatures. We have found signs of determinism in IGR J17091-3624 after denoising, thus supporting the hypothesis of it being similar to GRS 1915+105, even as a dynamical system.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Increasing quantum speed limit via non-uniform magnetic field

Quantum speed limit (QSL) defines the theoretical upper bound on how fast a quantum system can evolve between states. It imposes a fundamental constraint on the rate of quantum information processing. For a relativistic spin-up electron in a uniform magnetic field, QSL increased with the magnetic field strength till around $10^{15}$ Gauss, before saturating at a saturated QSL (SQSL) of 0.2407c, where c is the speed of light. We show that by using variable magnetic fields, it is possible to surpass this limit, achieving SQSL upto 0.4-0.6c. To attain this quantum phenomenon, we solve the evolution equation of relativistic electron in spatially varying magnetic fields and find that the energies of various electron states become non-degenerate as opposed to the constant magnetic field case. This redistribution of energy is the key ingredient to accomplish higher QSL and, thus, a high information processing speed. We further explore how QSL can serve as a bridge between relativistic and non-relativistic quantum dynamics, providing insights via the Bremermann-Bekenstein bound, a quantity which constrains the maximal rate of information production. We also propose a practical experimental setup to realize these advancements. These results hold immense potential for propelling fields of quantum computation, thermodynamics and metrology.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Black hole thermodynamics in modified gravity

The theory of general relativity is often considered under the framework of modified Einstein gravity to explain different phenomena under strong curvature. The strong curvature effect plays a main role near black holes, where the gravitational field is strongest. The idea of black hole thermodynamics is to describe the strong field curvature properties of a black hole in the effective thermodynamical framework, e.g. entropy, temperature, heat capacity etc. In this paper, our aim is to explore how the effect of modified gravity changes the thermodynamic properties of black hole. We show that even a small modification to Einstein gravity affects the thermodynamical properties of a black hole.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Simulating super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs

Over the last few decades, there has been considerable interest in the violation of the sacred "Chandrasekhar" mass limit of white dwarfs (WDs). Peculiar over-luminous type Ia supernovae (such as SNLS-03D3bb) lend observational support to the idea that these super-Chandrasekhar WDs exist. Our group, for more than a decade, has been actively working on the theoretical possibility of these objects through the presence of the star's magnetic field. The magnetic field greatly contributes to the existence of these massive WDs, both through classical and quantum effects. In this work, we explore super-Chandrasekhar WDs, formed via evolution from a main sequence star, as a result of the classical effects of the star's magnetic field. We obtain super-Chandrasekhar WDs and new mass limit(s), depending on the magnetic field geometry. We explore the full evolution and stability of these objects from the main sequence stage through the one-dimensional stellar evolution code STARS. In order to do so, we have appropriately modified the given codes by introducing magnetic effect and cooling. Our simulation confirms that massive WDs are possible in the presence of a magnetic field satisfying underlying stability.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2024

Influence of gravity on the quantum speed limit in neutrino oscillations

The quantum speed limits (QSLs) determine the minimal amount of time required for a quantum system to evolve from an initial to a final state. We investigate QSLs for the unitary evolution of the neutrino-antineutrino system in the presence of a gravitational field. It is known that the transition probabilities between neutrino and antineutrino in the framework of one and two flavors depend on the strength of the gravitational field. The behavior of the QSL time in the two-flavor system indicates fast flavor transitions as the gravitational field strength increases. Subsequently, we observe quick suppression of entanglement by exploring the speed limit for entanglement entropy of two-flavor oscillations in the neutrino-antineutrino system in the proximity of a spinning primordial black hole.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Mass-Radius relation for magnetized white dwarfs from SDSS

We present the observational mass-radius (M-R) relation for a sample of 47 magnetized white dwarfs (WDs) with the magnetic field strength (B) ranging from 1 to 773 MG, identified from the SDSS data release 7 (DR7). We derive their effective temperature, surface gravity (log g), luminosity, radius, and mass. While atmospheric parameters are derived using a Virtual Observatory Spectral Energy Distribution Analyzer (VOSA), the mass is derived using their location in the HR diagram in comparison with the evolutionary tracks of different masses. We implement this mass measurement instead of a more traditional method of deriving masses from log g, which is unreliable as is based on SED and generates errors from other physical parameters involved. The main disadvantage of this method is that we need to assume a core composition of WDs. As it is complicated to identify the exact composition of these WDs from low-resolution spectra, we use tracks for the masses 0.2 to 0.4 solar mass assuming a He-core, 0.5 to 1.0 solar mass assuming CO core, and above solar mass assuming O-Ne-Mg core. We compare the observed M-R relation with those predicted by the finite temperature model by considering different B, which are well in agreement considering their relatively low surface fields, less than or of the order of 10^9 G. Currently, there is no direct observational detection of magnetized WDs with B > 10^9 G. We propose that our model can be further extrapolated to higher B, which may indicate the existence of super-Chandrasekhar mass (M > 1.4 solar mass) WDs at higher B.

astro-ph.SR↗