Professor Ranjan Gupta
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Item Recent polarimetric observations of comet 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko(Icy Bodies of the Solar System Proceedings IAU Symposium, 2009-11-24) Anny-Chantal Levasseur-Regourd1; Hadamcik, Edith; Sen, A.K.; et.alRemote observations of solar light scattered by dust in comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko coma are of major importance to assess the properties of the dust and thus to prepare the rendezvous of the Rosetta spacecraft with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. We present polarimetric data obtained from India in December 2008 and France in March 2009. Compared with previous observations of this comet and of other Jupiter family comets, they confirm that it is dust-poor, although it may exhibit outbursts leading to the ejection of dust particles from its subsurface, especially after its perihelion passage.Item Proposal for UV observations of star forming clouds(Bull. Astr. Soc. India, 2007-03-02) Sen, A.K.; Mukai, T.; Gupta, R; etThe small, compact dark clouds (also known as Bok Globules), are undergoing gravitational collapse that can result in the production of low mass stars. Light from background stars is scattered in forward direction by magnetically aligned dichroic dust grains. The degree and direction of align- ment is proportional to the strength and direction of ambient magnetic ¯eld in the cloud. Background star polarimetry provides the technique to probe this ¯eld. In order to relate the physical conditions within the cloud to the back- ground star polarization and to know the dust properties, we need to determine E(B ¡V ) for each background star and relate it to the corresponding observed polarization (p). However, observed data, do not always show a correlation between polarization and extinction. Due to this the question arises whether the grains that produce polarization also produce observed extinction? The observation that the polarization is not related to the extinction, can be explained if polarization and extinction are caused by two di®erent grain populations. Polarization is mainly caused by short grains, whereas the extinction is caused by larger ones. Based on these ¯ndings, justi¯cations are made here to detect these small grains (0.0035-0.01 ¹m) in the star forming clouds through UV observations to be made by TAUVEX. These particles can be best detected through the UV observations, as they show far-UV excess and characteristic features of 2175 ºA bump. We propose imaging of these clouds through the three bandpass ¯lters of TAUVEX. We expect to resolve many unanswered questions associated with star forming clouds, through this set of proposed observations.Item An analysis of the distribution of background star(Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc, 2002-02-02) Sen, A.K.; Mukai, T; Gupta, Ranjan; et al.The polarization observed for stars background to dark clouds (Bok Globules) is often used as diagnostic to study the ongoing star formation processes in these clouds. Such polarization maps in the optical have been reported for eight nearby clouds CB3, CB25, CB39, CB52, CB54, CB58, CB62 and CB246 in one of our previous work (Sen et al 2000). With a view to understand the origin of this polarization, in the present work attempts are made to look for any possible relation between this observed polarization and other physical parameters in the cloud (like temperature, turbulence etc.). The observed polarization does not seem to be clearly related to the dust and gas temperatures (Td and Tg) in the cloud as expected from Davis-Greenstein grain alignment mechanism (Davis & Greenstein 1952). However, the average observed polarization (pav) appears to be related to the turbulence V (measured by 12CO line width) by the mathematical relation pav = 2.95 exp(−0.24 V ). The possible relation between the direction of polarization vector and other physical parameters are also discussed. For this analysis in addition to the data on above eight dark clouds, the data on CB4 (Kane et al. 1995) are also included for comparison. In order to study the spatial distribution of the degree of polarization and position angles across the different parts of the cloud a simple model is proposed, where the cloud has been assumed to be a simple dichroic polarizing sphere and the light from the background star first passes through the IS medium and then through the cloud, before reaching the observer. One finds this simple model can explain to a reasonable extent the observed spatial (radial) dependence of the value of p for two of the clouds (CB25 , CB39), but for rest of the clouds the model fails. However, through this model one can explain why the polarization (p) need not always increase with total extinction Av as one moves in the deeper interior part of the cloud.Item Imaging polarimetry of some selected dark clouds?(Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser., 2000-01-11) Sen, A.K.; Gupta, Ranjan; Ramaprakash, A.N; et al.A set of eight Bok Globules CB3, CB25, CB39, CB52, CB54, CB58, CB62 and CB246 were observed polarimetrically in white light, using our Imaging Polarimeter (IMPOL), from the 1.2 m IR telescope at Mount Abu, India. The observations were carried out on di erent nights during the period December 1997 and April 1998. The CCD images obtained from the instrument (IMPOL) were analyzed, to produce polarization map of the Bok Globules. The stars in the eld, which are mostly background to the cloud show typically 2% of linear polarization. Clouds which are less dynamic (having 12CO line widths V < 2:5 km s−1), in general show slightly better alignment of polarization vectors with the projected direction of galactic plane. On the other hand the more dynamic group of clouds, has the polarization vectors more scattered and poorly aligned with the projected direction of the galactic plane. However one of the clouds observed CB58 does not follow this trend very well.Item An Imaging Polarimeter(IMPOL) for multi-wavelength observations(Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser, 2008-02-02) Ramaprakash, A.N; Gupta, Ranjan; Sen, A.K.; et.alTaking advantage of the advances in array detector technology, an imaging polarimeter (IMPOL) has been constructed for measuring linear polarization in the wavelength band from 400-800 nm. It makes use of a Wollaston prism as the analyser to measure simultaneously the two orthogonal polarization components that define a Stoke’s parameter. An achromatic half-wave plate is used to rotate the plane of polarization with respect to the axis of the analyser so that the second Stoke’s parameter also can be determined. With a field of view correponding to about 30 × 30 mm2 for a / 1.2 m, f/13 telescope, a sensitive, liquid-N2 cooled CCD camera as the detector and a built-in acquisition and guidance unit, the instrument can be used for studying stellar fields or extended objects with an angular resolution of ∼2′′ . The instrumental polarization is less than 0.05% and the accuracies of measurement are primarily limited by photon noise for typical observations.