Dr. Vikram Khaire

In our speculative theories about advanced civilizations, we often imagine that they possess the capability to construct megastructures, some of which may be larger than planets. These colossal constructs could serve various purposes, such as modes of transportation or devices for harvesting energy from their host stars. If such megastructures exist within our galaxy, their presence could potentially be detected in the transit light curves of stars. This seminar will introduce a transit simulator designed to produce light curves for megastructures of any shape orbiting stars, with a specific focus on the interesting example of giant solar panels that are tidally locked to their stars. Additionally, the presentation will delve into a machine-learning algorithm tailored to deduce the shapes of these transiting megastructures from their light curves. Finally, the speaker will briefly outline upcoming space biology experiments facilitated by a new interdisciplinary collaboration at IIST Trivandrum.