Vidushi Sharma

I am a post-doc fellow, astronomer and astrophysicist at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, AlbaNova centre. I am interested in deciphering the science of transient events in high-energy astrophysics. For this, I conduct timing, energy and polarisation data analysis of the photons detected by various space observatories, comprised of AstroSat, Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.

My research is mainly focused on studying nature's most powerful explosions, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). These events can release more energy within a few seconds than the Sun will produce in its entire lifetime (~10 billion years). These powerful bangs announce the birth of black holes or magnetars through multi-messenger astronomical signals. In electromagnetic regimes, within a few minutes, they produce the most energetic form of light; gamma-rays and X-rays followed by emission in the entire energy spectrum. It is important to understand the physics of these events as they provide us with unique tools for (a) probing the evolution of the Universe, (b) testing laws of physics in extreme conditions, and (c) understanding the stellar evolution.

Schematic diagram of the GRB phenomenon. On the left side, the two progenitors are presented: the merger of two stellar remnants and the collapse of a massive star. Being multi-messenger events, GRBs are sources of gravitational waves and high energy neutrinos, in addition to electromagnetic radiation. After the stellar collapse, jets are launched, in which the observed electromagnetic emission is produced, at various distances, theoretically described by the Fireball model.