Dr. Chintan Shah is an expert in the field of laboratory astrophysics and X-ray spectroscopy. He obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Physics from M. S. University of Baroda, India in 2011. After working as an Assistant Scientist at Aditya/SST-1 Tokamak facilities in India for a year, he moved to Germany to pursue a Ph.D. at Heidelberg University. In 2015, he completed his Ph.D. with a research focus on developing X-ray Compton polarimeters and implementing techniques to examine plasma anisotropies. Later, Dr. Shah joined the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in Heidelberg, Germany, as a postdoctoral scientist. His primary focus was on laboratory measurements with an Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) and various UV/X-ray grating, crystal, and solid-state spectrometers to study underlying atomic processes responsible for the line formation in the plasma. Currently, Dr. Shah's research at NASA Goddard involves high-resolution laboratory astrophysics experiments with X-ray microcalorimeters and EBITs to provide accurate atomic data for improving present spectral models and interpreting the high-resolution X-ray spectra produced by missions such as XRISM, Athena, and LEM. He conducts and assists with these science measurements at Goddard, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and at 3rd and 4th generation advanced light sources in Germany.
Chintan Shah
(ASSOCIATE RESEARCH SCIENTIST)
| Email: | chintan.d.shah@nasa.gov |
| Phone: | 301.286.2666 |
| Org Code: | 662 |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 662 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: | JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY |
Brief Bio
Research Interests
Laboratory astrophysics, High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy, Development and calibration of spectrometers, Laboratory simulation of astrophysical plasmas, Atomic physics, Highly charged ions
Positions/Employment
Associate Research Scientist
Johns Hopkins University - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
2024 - Present
Assistant Research Scientist
CRESST/SURA/UMBC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
2022 - 2024
NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow
USRA/ORAU - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA
2019 - 2022
Postdoctoral Scientist
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) - Heidelberg, Germany
2016 - 2019
Graduate Student and Research Assistant
Physics Institute, Universität Heidelberg - Heidelberg, Germany
2012 - 2015
Assistant Scientist
Institute for Plasma Research - Gandhinagar, India
2011 - 2012
Research Intern
Physical Research Laboratory - Ahmedabad, India
2010 - 2010
Education
- 2015 - PhD (Physics), Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2011 - MSc (Physics), M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, India
- 2009 - BSc (Physics), M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, India
Publications
Refereed
2024. "High-precision Transition Energy Measurements of Neon-like Fe xvii Ions." The Astrophysical Journal 969 (1): 52 [10.3847/1538-4357/ad454b] [Journal Article/Letter]
2024. "Natural-linewidth measurements of the 3C and 3D soft-x-ray transitions in Ni xix." Physical Review A 109 (6): 063108 [10.1103/physreva.109.063108] [Journal Article/Letter]
2023. "Charge Exchange in X-Ray Astrophysics." Springer Series in Astrophysics and Cosmology 255-289 [10.1007/978-981-99-4409-5_10] [Article in Book]
2022. "New Measurement Resolves Key Astrophysical Fe XVII Oscillator Strength Problem." Physical Review Letters 129 (24): 245001 [10.1103/physrevlett.129.245001] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "X-Ray Photoabsorption of Density-sensitive Metastable States in Ne vii, Fe xxii, and Fe xxiii." The Astrophysical Journal 941 (2): 188 [10.3847/1538-4357/ac9c00] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "X-ray spectra of the Fe-L complex. III. Systematic uncertainties in atomic data." Astronomy & Astrophysics 664 A62 [10.1051/0004-6361/202039943] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "Uncertainties in Atomic Data for Modeling Astrophysical Charge Exchange Plasmas." Sensors 22 (3): 752 [10.3390/s22030752] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Fe xvii 2p–3s Line Ratio Diagnostic of Shock Formation Radius in O Stars." The Astrophysical Journal 917 (2): 105 [10.3847/1538-4357/ac0890] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "High-resolution Laboratory Measurements of K-shell X-Ray Line Polarization and Excitation Cross Sections in Helium-like S XV Ions." The Astrophysical Journal 914 (1): 34 [10.3847/1538-4357/abf1ea] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Comprehensive Laboratory Measurements Resolving the LMM Dielectronic Recombination Satellite Lines in Ne-like Fe xvii Ions." The Astrophysical Journal 913 (2): 140 [10.3847/1538-4357/abf737] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Absolute throughput calibration of multiple spherical crystals for the Orion High-REsolution X-ray spectrometer (OHREX)." Review of Scientific Instruments 92 (2): 023509 [10.1063/5.0043683] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "High-Precision Determination of Oxygen Kα Transition Energy Excludes Incongruent Motion of Interstellar Oxygen." Physical Review Letters 125 (24): 243001 [10.1103/physrevlett.125.243001] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Observation of strong two-electron–one-photon transitions in few-electron ions." Physical Review A 102 (5): 052831 [10.1103/physreva.102.052831] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "X-ray spectra of the Fe-L complex - II. Atomic data constraints from the EBIT experiment and X-ray grating observations of Capella." Astronomy & Astrophysics 641 A93 [10.1051/0004-6361/202037948] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "EUV spectroscopy of highly charged Sn13+−Sn15+ ions in an electron-beam ion trap." Physical Review A 101 (6): 062511 [10.1103/physreva.101.062511] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "High Resolution Photoexcitation Measurements Exacerbate the Long-Standing Fe XVII Oscillator Strength Problem." Physical Review Letters 124 (22): 225001 [10.1103/physrevlett.124.225001] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Revisiting the Fe XVII Line Emission Problem: Laboratory Measurements of the 3s-2p and 3d-2p Line-formation Channels." The Astrophysical Journal 881 (2): 100 [10.3847/1538-4357/ab2896] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "X-ray spectra of the Fe-L complex." Astronomy & Astrophysics 627 A51 [10.1051/0004-6361/201833860] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Resonance strengths for KLL dielectronic recombination of highly charged mercury ions and improved empirical Z-scaling law." Physical Review A 99 (1): 012506 [10.1103/physreva.99.012506] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Charge exchange in galaxy clusters." Astronomy & Astrophysics 611 A26 [10.1051/0004-6361/201731861] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Polarization of K-shell Dielectronic Recombination Satellite Lines of Fe XIX - XXV and Its Application for Diagnostics of Anisotropies of Hot Plasmas." The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 234 (2): 27 [10.3847/1538-4365/aaa4c0] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "State-selective influence of the Breit interaction on the angular distribution of emitted photons following dielectronic recombination." Physical Review A 95 (2): 022712 [10.1103/physreva.95.022712] [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS COMPELLINGLY SUPPORT A CHARGE-EXCHANGE MECHANISM FOR THE “DARK MATTER” ∼3.5 keV X-Ray LINE." The Astrophysical Journal 833 (1): 52 [10.3847/1538-4357/833/1/52] [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "Strong higher-order resonant contributions to x-ray line polarization in hot plasmas." Physical Review E 93 (6): 061201 [10.1103/physreve.93.061201] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "Polarization measurement of dielectronic recombination transitions in highly charged krypton ions." Physical Review A 92 (4): 042702 [10.1103/physreva.92.042702] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "Compton polarimeter for 10–30 keV x rays." Review of Scientific Instruments 86 (9): 093110 [10.1063/1.4931165] [Journal Article/Letter]