Uddipan Banik is interested in diverse fields of theoretical astrophysics, including kinetic theory, astrophysical plasma (e.g., accretion disks around black holes, collisionless shocks), galactic dynamics, galaxy formation and evolution, structure formation, dark matter (is dark matter cold, warm, self-interacting, fuzzy or something else?), etc. He specializes in the study of the role of secular processes like dynamical friction and relaxation/equilibration processes like phase mixing (Gaia phase-space spirals), Landau damping, resonant relaxation, violent relaxation, chaotic mixing, etc. in the formation and evolution of coherent structures in many body systems such as plasmas and self-gravitating systems. For his PhD work at Yale, he developed novel perturbative and non-perturbative theories for the response of galaxies and cold dark matter halos to external perturbations (e.g., gravitational encounters) and the subsequent relaxation and dynamical friction (back reaction of the response on the perturber). As a joint postdoctoral fellow at Princeton and the IAS, Uddipan will primarily conduct research on the relaxation of collisionless and weakly collisional systems, e.g., galaxies, dark matter halos and kinetic plasma.
Selected publications