Tejinder Pal Singh's Home Page

Affiliation | Research | CV | Publications | Students | Awards | Teaching | Popular Science | Schooling

Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Homi Bhabha Road
Mumbai 400005
India
Designation : Professor
Email : tpsingh at tifr.res.in
Tel: 0091-22-22782600 (Office): 0091-22-22804935 (Residence)
Research Interests :
Quantum Gravity and Quantum Measurement
Cosmology : the Origin of Dark Energy
General Relativity : Classical and Quantum aspects of Gravitational Collapse
In Brief :
The concept of time is a classical concept, external to quantum mechanics. There ought to exist a reformulation of quantum mechanics which does not referto an external classical time. Such a reformulation can be shown to be the limiting case of a nonlinear quantum theory, with the nonlinearity becoming important at the Planck mass/energy scale. The nonlinearity can possibly explain the collapse of the wave-function during a quantum measurement, andpredicts a finite superposition lifetime for superposed states of mesoscopic quantum systems. These ideas could be tested by ongoing laboratoryexperiments in the near future. [Ref. arXiv:0711.3773]
We do not understand what is causing the Universe to undergo an accelerated expansion today. The simplest explanation, namely that this is an apparenteffect resulting from averaging of inhomogeneities, does not seem to work [Paranjape and Singh, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 181101 (2008)]. Could theacceleration be an apparent effect because we live in a huge void? Could it be due to a very tiny cosmological constant, whose extremely small but non- zero value can be derived from quantum gravity?
Classical general relativity seems to admit the formation of naked singularities. What are the possible astrophysical signatures of such naked singularities, if any?
CV:
Date of Birth : 23rd July, 1962
Masters in Physics [Five Year Integrated Programme] : IIT, Delhi (1984)
Ph. D. in Physics : TIFR, Mumbai (1989)
Post-Doctoral Fellow at ICTP, Trieste : 1989-90
Faculty Member at TIFR since 1989
List of Publications :
Link to Spires Database
Graduate Student(s):
Kinjalk Lochan
Priti Mishra
Past Graduate Students :
Aseem Paranjape
Rakesh Tibrewala
Sashideep Gutti
Sukratu Barve
Awards and Recognition :
CBSE HSC Examination (1977) : All-India Rank 11
CBSE Senior Secondary Examination [1979] : All-India Rank 3
IIT Delhi Silver Medal [1984]
Gravity Research Foundation [USA] Essay Contest :
3rd Prize (1998)
4th Prize (2004) [jointly with Cenalo Vaz, Cincinnati]
2nd Prize (2008)
Center for Excellence Visiting Scholar, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto [Aug.-Oct. 2000]
Fourth Prize in 2009 Essay Contest of the Foundational Questions Institute (USA)
Teaching [Graduate Courses at TIFR]:
Classical Electrodynamics [1993]
Astronomy and Astrophysics [1995]
Classical Electrodynamics [1998]
Statistical Mechanics [2001]
Classical Mechanics [2003]
Statistical Mechanics [2009]
Some Popular Science Articles :
Special Relativity for the School-Going Child
Quantum theory and the Cosmological Constant
Quantum theory, gravity, and the standard model of particle physics
Schooling :
Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1, Ambala Cantonment, 1975-79
Kendriya Vidyalaya, BHU Varanasi, 1974-75
Kendriya Vidayala, Babina Cantonment, 1973-74
Shalini Preparatory School, Clement Town, Dehradun, 1969-72