Dr. Kaur received her B.Sc. in 2010 from the Government College for Women (Ludhiana, India) and her M.Sc. in Physics from the Punjab University (Chandigarh). She joined the Raman Research Institute (Bangalore) in 2012 to pursue a Ph.D. in astrophysics. Since 2013, she has done research in dynamical astronomy under the supervision of Prof. S. Sridhar. She will join The Racah Institute of Physics (Jerusalem, Israel) in October 2019 to pursue postdoctoral research with Prof. Nicholas Stone.

 

Dr. Kaur’s doctoral research presents a rigorous study of the dynamics and statistical mechanics of dense star clusters at the centers of galaxies. Her work on gravitational instabilities offers a plausible dynamical scenario for the origin of the orbital structure of the young stellar disc at the center of our galaxy. She has recently worked with Prof. Sridhar on the stalling of globular cluster orbits in a dwarf galaxy due to suppressed dynamical friction. She is fascinated by the extreme environments in galactic nuclei and will work with Prof. Stone on stellar dynamics in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole. Of particular interest are observational signatures, such as the tidal disruption of stars and the emission of gravitational waves detectable by aLIGO, VIRGO and LISA. Coming as she does from a family of teachers, Dr. Kaur enjoys interacting with students and has a keen interest in science outreach.