Saurav Dhital
Astronomy Graduate Student
Vanderbilt University
saurav.dhital -at- vanderbilt.edu
I am an observational astronomer and study low-mass, ultra-wide binaries as means to understand the processes by which stellar systems are formed. We know that the vast majority, if not all, of stars form as doubles, triples, or quadruples; but we do not understand the mechanisms that produces the population of stars that we see. In trying to solve this age-old problem, ultra-wide binary systems are in some ways the boundary conditions. Their extremely large separations challenge our classical view all binary stars are formed together from the same prestellar cloud.
Currently, for my dissertation, I am using the ultra-wide binaries in the SLoWPoKES catalog to measure the binarity and hierarchical multiplicity. We have found that a large number of ultra-wide binaries like to be in triple or quadruple systems. This is likely to be a keystone in tracing the formation processes. I also exploit the coevality and iso-metallicity of these pairs and use them as coeval laboratories to calibrate/constrain the metallicity indices and the relationship between magnetic activity, rotation, and age.
I hail from Lalitpur, Nepal where I was born and lived till high school. Then I moved to the cozy, idyllic confines of Swarthmore College where I majored in Astrophysics and History.
Comet Hale-Bopp first got me interested in astrophysical objects and the forces/processes that governed them. Thirteen years later, I am a few months away from a Ph. D. in Astronomy from Vanderbilt University and am still marveling at the intricacies of gravity and its magnificence. Currently, I am spending the year at Boston University.