Contact

Address


Dr. Manash Samal, Room 213, Astronmy & Astrophysics Divison,
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380009, Gugarat, India
Phone:+91-79-26314613

Email


[email protected], [email protected]



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Welcome

I am a faculty member at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), where my research addresses fundamental questions in astrophysics, including how and where stars and stellar clusters form in the Universe, and how newly formed stars interact with their surrounding interstellar medium to regulate star formation at the scale of their host molecular cloud. I investigate these problems through multiwavelength astronomical observations using both ground- and space-based facilities. In particular, I employ radio, millimeter, infrared, and optical observations to study the physical properties of stars, as well as the gas and dust associated with their formation environments. Further details of my research can be found on my research page, and a complete list of my publications is available on my publications page.


Recent Results

How are dense regions of our Galaxy converting gas into stars? Is star formation efficiency per free-fall time truly universal?
In a recent analysis of 17 nearby parsec-scale, cluster-forming clumps of our Galaxy, we estimated the star formation efficiency (SFE), star formation rate (SFR), and also examined the clump-scale star-formation scaling laws. We found a median instantaneous SFE of ~20% and an SFE per free-fall time (εff) of ~13% for the clumps. The εff values are found to be notably higher than the commonly assumed universal value. We discuss the scaling laws and suggests that εff may not be universal across all scales but instead varies with local conditions and physical processes. For details see Rawat et al. 2025.
Posted June 10th, 2025
Figure showing variation of luminosity ratio of HCN and HCO+ with metallicity
Variation of Dense Gas Mass-Luminosity conversion factor with metallicity in the Milky Way
In a recent study, we investigated the effect of metallicity on the mass-luminosity conversion factor derived from HCN and HCO+, which are commonly used tracers of dense gas. Our analysis revealed substantial variation in the abundance ratio of these tracers with metallicity, as well as across the galactocentric radius. We discuss the implications of these results in gas mass estimation and its potential role in explaining the observed low star formation efficiency in the central molecular zone of our Galaxy. For details see Patra et al. 2024, arXiv:2503.07931
Posted March 19th, 2025