ARSHIA ANJUM
PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland, Australia
Member of Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav)
Exploring the dynamical lives of globular clusters – and the intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) that may be hiding within them.
Some of the major projects that I am currently working on are the formation channels of the intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) in the centre of the globular cluter Omega Centauri, finding the wobble of the IMBH, and specific analysis of the tidal disruption and gravitational wave events in the evolution of the cluster. I am also looking at the impact the IMBH has over globular dynamics and working on a pipeline to analyse globular cluster evolutions better.
I conducted a critical review of causal and acausal features in truncated MIS-type relativistic hydrodynamics theories, testing them against Heller's causality conditions. I explored two fundamental theorems, one from Heller et al., and another derived, focusing on linear stability and bounds on transport coefficients. It revealed that truncating the MIS-type theory at any finite order resulted in acausality, with violations of causality becoming more pronounced at higher truncations. My research demonstrated the inherent acausality in truncated MIS theories using Heller's theorems. Read more...
The project's aim was to investigate MHD processes, specifically the alpha-omega dynamo equations, to understand the generation and evolution of magnetic fields in astrophysical contexts. By examining the effects of varying differential rotation rates (Ω) on these dynamo processes, the project concluded that differential rotation is essential for efficient dynamo activity, significantly influencing the complexity and strength of magnetic fields in stars and galaxies. Read more...
Spherical Photon Orbits
This project explores rotating black holes and naked singularities embedded in perfect dark fluid matter, examining how this modifies photon orbits, likephoton boomerang trajectories. We compared theoretical predictions against Event Horizon Telescope shadow observations of M87* and Sgr A*, deriving upper bounds on the dark matter parameter and showing that a significant portion of the model's parameter space remains consistent with real astrophysical observations. Access the published paper here.
Apart from the projects mentioned above, I have also undertaken minor projects on topics like globular cluster tails, 21cm H1 line spectroscopy using horn antenna, machine learning models on TNG data, accretion disk theory, shapiro time delay, and high Tc superconductor synthesis.
[2023] Arshia Anjum, Misba Afrin, Sushant G. Ghosh, Investigating effects of dark matter on photon orbits and black hole shadows, Physics of the Dark Universe, Volume 40, 2023, 101195, ISSN 2212-6864, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dark.2023.101195.
First Author in the paper. Studied rotating black holes and naked singularities embedded in perfect dark fluid matter, examining how this modifies photon orbits. Compared theoretical predictions against Event Horizon Telescope shadow observations of M87* and Sgr A*, deriving upper bounds on the dark matter parameter.
I am an astrophysics researcher with training in theoretical physics, computational methods, and data analysis, currently pursuing a PhD focused on the growth of intermediate-mass black holes in dense star cluster simulations. My long-term goal is to build a research career in astrophysics combining numerical modelling, theory, and data-driven analysis, while also contributing to teaching, science communication, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Jan 2025 – Present: PhD Candidate in Astrophysics (expected completion – June 2028)
School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Thesis Title: Studying the growth of an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole in dense star cluster simulations
Supervisors: A/Pr Holger Baumgardt, Dr Sarah Sweet
Techniques and skills:
Computational astrophysics and dense star cluster simulations
Programming and scientific computing in Python, C++, Fortran
High-performance computing (HPC) and Linux environments
Data visualization, plotting, and scientific communication
Jul 2019 – May 2024: Integrated BS-MS
School of Physical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, India
Master's Thesis Title: Study of causality and stability in relativistic hydrodynamics
Supervisor: Dr Sayantani Bhattacharyya (Edinburgh Mathematical Physics Group, University of Edinburgh, UK)
Techniques and skills:
Relativistic hydrodynamics and theoretical modelling
Differential equations and analytical methods
Numerical computation and scientific programming
Presentation and communication of research findings
2025: RTP Scholarship
2024: Junior Research Fellowship (SERB-DST) — awarded for research work at IIT Indore
2019–2024: DST-INSPIRE Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE), Government of India
2023 & 2022: GATE Physics — Qualified (All India Rank 2627 and 2879 respectively)
2019: National Entrance Screening Test (NEST) — All India Rank 264 / 37,510 (98.7 percentile)
2012–2016: Multiple national and school-level academic distinctions, including the National Mathematics Olympiad, NSTSE, IBT Program certificates, and UNSW Global Certificate of Credit
2025–Present: Member of the Astronomical Society of Australia
June 2026 – Present: Member of Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav)
LANGUAGES
English – Fluent (Language of Learning)
Hindi – Conversational
Urdu – Mother Tongue
TEACHING EXPERIENCE AND OUTREACH
Aug 2025 – May 2026 (two semesters): Tutor, PLC – UQ
Teaching Assistant for first-year open tutorials in Physics Annexe.
Feb 2026 – May 2026: Tutor, COSC3000 – Visualisation, Computer Graphics and Data Analysis, UQ
Supervisors: Dr Timo Nieminen, Dr Holger Baumgardt
Teaching Assistant for second-year computational science course, involved with offline tutorials, marking, and project assessment. Assisted with Python and MATLAB coding.
Aug 2025 – Nov 2025: Tutor, PHYS2082 – Space Science and Stellar Astrophysics, UQ
Supervisors: Dr Holger Baumgardt, Dr Cullan Howlett
Teaching Assistant for second-year astrophysics course. Assisted with offline tutorials, problem solving, coding, marking, and invigilation.
Aug 2025 – Nov 2025: Tutor, COSC2500 – Numerical Methods in Computational Science, UQ
Supervisor: Dr Timo Nieminen
Teaching Assistant for second-year computational science course, involved with offline tutorials, marking, and project assessment. Assisted with Python and MATLAB coding.
Mar 2025 – Present: Tutor, Union College
General tutor for the residents of Union College, spanning multiple semesters and courses.
Aug 2023 – Dec 2023: Teaching Assistant, NISER
Supervisor: Dr Anup Kumar Bhattacharya
Teaching Assistant for first-year Integrated M.Sc. Computer Science laboratory classes. Assisted students with coding, problem-solving, and laboratory instruction.
November 2025: Stars in Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia
Attendee
August 2025: SMP Poster Day, The University of Queensland
Poster Presentation — "[Insert poster title]"
June 6–16, 2024: Kodaikanal Summer School, Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, India
Organiser: Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore
Attendee
December 11–17, 2023: 21 cm Cosmology School and Workshop, NISER, Bhubaneswar
Title: Advanced 21-cm Cosmology
Attendee
November 11–12, 2023: EBS Meeting (International Meeting on Eclipsing Binary Star Systems), Paris, France (attended online)
Attendee
October 31, 2021: Outreach Webinar, NISER Bhubaneswar
Speaker — "Black Holes and the Photons Around Them"
Outreach seminar for an audience of 50+ students
2019: VIJYOSHI Camp, IISER Kolkata
Attendee, as an INSPIRE Scholar
Guides: Prof. D. D. Sarma, Prof. A. K. Mallik, Prof. Somnath Dasgupta, Prof. Peter Saulson, Prof. Soumitro Banerjee, Prof. Marlene Zuk, Prof. Alan Goldman, Prof. Uday Maitra, Prof. Partha P. Majumder
Particulars:
Email - a.anjum@uq.edu.au
LinkedIn - Arshia Anjum
Location - School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia