Computational Astrophysics · TIFR Mumbai

Imaging the interiors of the Sun and stars

We work with lightcurve data — photon counts measured by ground- and space-based telescopes — to study the Sun and stars through helio- and asteroseismology, and to detect and characterize exoplanets through transits and radial-velocity signals.

1.0000.988transit min.phase (days)

About the group

Reading the visible universe at telescope cadence

Modern telescopes record photon counts faster than humans can parse. The Lightcurve group at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research builds neural networks and statistical models on top of this data — across helioseismology, asteroseismology, and exoplanet transit photometry — to infer what telescopes alone cannot. The group is funded by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) through TIFR, with additional support from Premji Invest and the Murty Trust, and collaborates with the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Caltech, and Google DeepMind.

Read about us
01Helioseismology

The Sun

Imaging flows, magnetic fields, and convection in the solar interior using acoustic oscillations.

02Asteroseismology

Stars

Measuring stellar structure, rotation, and evolution from photometric variability in Kepler and TESS data.

03Transit photometry & RV

Exoplanets

Detecting planetary candidates and characterizing atmospheres from transit light curves and radial-velocity signals.

A minor track: the group also applies seismic-inversion techniques to terrestrial geophysics — a secondary direction that draws on the same mathematical machinery developed for the Sun. See the Earth track →

Latest publications

All publications →

Homogenization of Elastic Wave Equation using Renormalization Group Theory

Bhaskar Illa, Ajay Malkoti, Shravan Hanasoge, Rene-Edouard Plessix, Anu Chandran

EarthArXiv preprint2025

Potential of Gaia XP Spectra in Red Giant Star Asteroseismology: A Deep-Learning Approach

Rajarshi Barman, Shatanik Bhattacharya, Shravan Hanasoge, Siddharth Dhanpal

arXiv preprint2026

Evidence for global-scale magnetically modified Rossby waves in the Sun

Shravan Hanasoge, C Hanson

Nature Astronomy2026