“Nature is mysterious, surprising, and yet comfortingly simple...”
Heising–Simons QuRIOS Postdoctoral Fellow · UC Santa Barbara
I am a theoretical physicist studying black holes, gravitational waves, and effective field theory.
My research develops analytic and computational frameworks that connect strong-field gravitational dynamics to observable signatures, with particular emphasis on compact-object response, dissipation, scattering, and gravitational-wave observables.
I am currently a Heising–Simons QuRIOS Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I completed my PhD in Physics at The Ohio State University in 2025 under Prof. Samir D. Mathur, where I worked on black-hole thermodynamics, extremely compact objects, microscopic black-hole structure, and the information problem.
Before that, I received an integrated B.S.–M.S. degree in Physics from IISER Bhopal. I am originally from Jaipur, India.
Heising–Simons QuRIOS Postdoctoral Fellow
University of California, Santa Barbara
I study how compact objects respond to their environments and how that response can reveal both the dynamics of general relativity and possible departures from classical black-hole behavior.
I use black-hole perturbation theory and effective field theory to characterize how compact objects respond to external perturbations, including tidal interactions, scattering, absorption, and dissipation.
A central part of this work is a finite-radius effective description that connects interior or near-horizon dynamics to observables measured outside the compact object.
I study perturbations of Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes, with particular emphasis on gauge-invariant observables, finite-frequency response, fluxes, and horizon dynamics.
Current work develops gravitational response functions for Schwarzschild perturbations and extends the framework toward spinning black holes.
A broader goal of my research is to understand whether microscopic or higher-derivative modifications of black-hole physics can leave robust signatures in scattering or gravitational-wave observations.
My earlier work studied extremely compact objects, black-hole thermodynamics, microstate physics, and the D1–D5 conformal field theory.
I am developing finite-radius effective descriptions of dynamical gravitational systems that encode internal compact-object physics in response data accessible to an exterior observer. The framework connects boundary response to scattering, absorption, tidal effects, and signal predictions.
I am extending the response framework to gravitational perturbations, beginning with Schwarzschild black holes and moving toward rotating spacetimes. The goal is to characterize finite-frequency gravitational response using quantities that can be related directly to asymptotic observables.
I am interested in how modified near-horizon or compact-object dynamics propagates into measurable waveform effects. This includes dissipation, altered scattering and absorption, tidal response, and accumulated phase shifts in gravitational-wave signals.
Selected work on black-hole response, strong-field gravity, black-hole thermodynamics, and microscopic structure.
I am interested in communicating fundamental physics through public conversations, observing programs, and informal science education.
I created Time Before Space , a science-communication channel on gravity, quantum theory, and foundational questions in physics. Interviews include Juan Maldacena, Abhay Ashtekar, Gary Horowitz, Niayesh Afshordi, Sera Markoff, and Samir Mathur.
I also work as a stargazing guide with Alta Vista Tours in the Santa Barbara area, leading small-group telescope observations and introducing guests to planets, stars, star clusters, nebulae, galaxies, constellations, and the stories and physics of the night sky.