Department of Astrophysics

Introduction

The Department of Astrophysics (DAP) was established at the Vietnam National Satellite Center under the decision number 37/QĐ-TTVTQG dated January 29^th, 2015. The precursor of DAP was the Vietnam Astrophysics Training Laboratory (VINATOM, MOST) which consisted of a group of scientists working on astrophysics for more than 14 years.

The aim of the Department is to build in Vietnam a research group of international stature in astrophysics and space sciences. Its functions are to carry out research in astrophysics and space sciences, to train manpower for the fields and to do public outreach and education to increase the public awareness of the meaning, roles and importance of astrophysics and space sciences in particular and of fundamental research in general.

Contact:

• Department Head: Dr. Pham Ngoc Diep
• Email: pndiep@vnsc.org.vn
• Address: Department of Astrophysics, Room 308, 2A Building, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Nghia Do, Cau Giay, Ha Noi

 

Membership

The Department of Astrophysics includes 8 members: 1 professor, 5 doctors, 1 master and 1 bachelor. Most of them have background in physics.

Research domains

The first priority of the Department of Astrophysics will be to reach excellence in its research work. The field will be astrophysics in a broad sense, both space and ground based and at any wavelength from radio to gamma rays. However, in the present phase, it will concentrate on radio astronomy, a field in which its staff has expertise. Such research implies the use of large facilities usually operated at international level. Having access to such facilities often implies association with research teams from abroad.

Currently, the staff of the Department of Astrophysics works in collaboration with the Observatoire de Paris on AGB stars and the transition to protoplanetary nebulae and in collaboration with University of Toulouse on far away galaxies (epoch of maximal star formation). The intention will be to possibly continue such collaborations at the same time as fostering new ones allowing DAP to extend our research work either in the same fields or in new fields. In particular, the implication of VNSC in the Japan-Vietnam agreement on Research and Development should be an opportunity to access ALMA data in collaboration with Japanese teams; the possibility of a collaboration with China on FAST, the new radio antenna in current construction in nearby China is currently being investigated with the idea to start working on pulsars, in particular millisecond pulsars. As a general rule, collaborations within the Asia-Pacific region will be given particular attention.

 Publications

We have published more than 60 articles in international scientific journals, 15 in national journals (major number of them were refereed by international referees) and many proceeding contributions both at international and national conferences. The full list of publications can be found at the DAP’s website: http://dap.vnsc.org.vn/

Some typical articles:

1. P.T. Anh et al., ¹²CO emission from the Red Rectangle, submitted to PASA (2015).
2. P.T. Nhung et al., On the central symmetry of the circumstellar envelope of RS Cnc, RAA accepted (2014).
3. D.T. Hoai et al., The multi-scale environment of RS Cancri from CO and H I observations, A&A 565, A54 (2014).
4. P. N. Diep et al., Correlated Oscillations Due to Similar Multipath Effects Seen in Two Widely Separated Radio Telescopes, PASA, 31, e029 doi:10.1017/pasa.2014.24 (2014).
5. P. T. Anh et al., Resolving the molecular gas around the lensed quasar RXJ0911.4+055, A&A 552, L12 (2013).
6. N.V. Hiep et al., Radio observation of solar activity related mHz oscillations, Solar Physics (2013), 10.1007/s11207-013-0356-y.
7. D.T. Hoai et al., Gravitationally lensed extended sources: the case of QSO RXJ0911, RAA Vol 13, No 7 (2013).
8. D.T. Hoai et al., Simulation of proton-induced and iron-induced extensive air showers at extreme energies, Astroparticle Physics 36 (2012), pp. 137-145.
9. J. Abraham et al., Measurement of the proton-air cross-section at sqrt(s) = 57 TeV with the Pierre Auger Observatory, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 062002 (2012).
10. J. Abraham et al., Measurement of the Depth of Maximum of Extensive Air Showers above 1018 eV, Phys. Rev. Letters 104 (2010) 091101.
11. J. Abraham et al., Observation of the suppression of the flux of cosmic rays above 4 1019 eV, Phys. Rev. Letters  101 (2008) 061101.
12. J. Abraham et al., Correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extra-galactic objects, Science 318 (2007) 938.
13. P.N. Diep et al., Measurement of the east-west asymmetry of the cosmic muon flux in Hanoi, Nuclear Physics B 678 (2004) 3.
14. P.N. Dinh et al., Measurement of the Zenith Angle Distribution of the Cosmic Muon Flux in Hanoi, Nuclear Physics B 661 (2003) 302.
15. P.N. Dinh et al., Measurement of the Vertical Cosmic Muon Flux in a Region of Large Rigidity Cutoff, Nuclear Physics B 627 (2002) 29.

Books (in Vietnamese):

1. Đi tìm “Hạt của Chúa” – Boson Higgs (Cuộc phiêu lưu kỳ thú của khoa học), Nhà xuất bản Tri thức (2014).
2. Kỷ yếu: 400 năm thiên văn học và Galileo Galilei, Nhà xuất bản Tri thức (2009).
3. Một góc nhìn của tri thức, Nhà xuất bản Tri thức (2007).

Education – Collaboration

We collaborate with universities and research institutions for training and research, in particular with Hanoi Institute of Physics, University of Science and Technology of Hanoi, Hanoi University of Sciences, Hanoi National University of Education, University of Toulouse,  University of Paris 6, University of Paris 11. We train students via research work. Besides using large international installations (ALMA, PdBI, …) we always have our own instruments for students to learn basic skills and techniques in astronomy.

Products and services

We have supervised 7 PhD theses (1 underway), 8 master theses, 13 bachelor dissertations and some internships. DAP members are actively in writing lectures, presentations and producing documents for education and training purpose. They can be found at DAP’s site: http://dap.vnsc.org.vn/

Photos gallery