Rajsekhar Mohapatra
Rajsekhar Mohapatra
Theoretical and numerical astrophysicist
Humboldt Fellow, AIP Potsdam
I am a Humboldt Fellow at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), Germany, which I joined in October 2026. Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University from 2022 to 2026. I obtained my PhD in Astronomy from the Australian National University in 2022 and my BSc in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, in 2018.
I study how turbulence, magnetic fields, cooling and feedback shape gas in galaxies and galaxy clusters. Through theoretical modelling and high-resolution simulations, I investigate how cold clouds form and survive, how stars and black holes influence their surroundings, and how observations can reveal the underlying gas motions.
I use AthenaK, FLASH and PLUTO for my simulations. I also develop AthenaK-RM, my research fork of AthenaK, and AthenaResearchRM, a Python analysis package with CPU and GPU support.
Latest news
October 2026 · Joined AIP Potsdam. I have begun a Humboldt Fellowship supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
September 2026 · MHD mixing-layer paper submitted. We find that initially weak magnetic fields substantially suppress mixing and cooling in turbulent radiative mixing layers by reducing turbulent motions and interface folding. Cooling rates depend on magnetic-field orientation and remain unconverged at our highest resolution of 1024 × 20482 cells. Read the preprint →
2026 · CGM cloud-complex paper published. We investigate the formation and survival of cold gas in turbulent, magnetized cloud complexes. Read the paper →
Movies
Explore gas dynamics in my simulations, from magnetic fields at hot–cold interfaces to cold clouds in galactic haloes.
New: magnetized radiative mixing layers
Simulations accompanying my submitted MHD mixing-layer paper. Watch on YouTube →
Cold gas in circumgalactic cloud complexes
Multiphase CGM turbulence: density, temperature, cooling rate, and plasma beta slices
Volume rendering of multiphase gas in CGM turbulence