Cosmology · Gravitational lensing · Dark matter

Manish Tamta

I study how gravity bends light and gravitational waves — and what those distortions reveal about dark matter and the Universe.

I’m a Ph.D. candidate in Physics at IISc Bangalore, advised by Dr. Nirmal Raj and Dr. Prateek Sharma. I work on gravitational lensing — especially its wave-optics regime with multi-messenger sources ranging from X-rays to gravitational waves — and what it reveals about dark matter. I’ve been a visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) in Potsdam, where I worked with Dr. Miguel Zumalacárregui and collaborators, and I am a core member of the LISA Consortium’s Cosmology working group.

Raised in the mountains of Uttarakhand. Away from the desk you’ll find me travelling, learning new languages, trekking, birdwatching, and taking photographs.

Currently in Bengaluru

Curriculum Vitae Get in touch
Manish Tamta, smiling, outdoors in the mountains
Somewhere in the Kumaon Himalaya.

01 — Research

Lensing as a probe of the dark Universe

Compact lenses — black holes, dark matter structures / substructures — leave fingerprints on the light and gravitational waves that pass through them.

Gravitational lensing & wave optics

When a signal’s wavelength is comparable to the size of the lens, geometric optics fails and the lens diffracts.

Dark matter

Cold dark matter (CDM), self-interacting dark matter (SIDM), primordial black holes (PBHs), and ultralight (“fuzzy”) dark matter can, in principle, show different wave-optics lensing signatures.

Multi-messenger astronomy

Different lens masses are sensitive to different wavelengths; wave-optics lensing is therefore an invaluable tool from gamma rays to gravitational waves.

I have a growing interest in deep learning, particularly its applications to physics and astronomy, and I’m planning to use these techniques in my research.

Research in motion

Two short animations that unpack the core ideas behind my papers.

Microlensing with incoherent sources. A star is an extended, incoherent source. When its extent becomes comparable to the Einstein radius of the lens, the magnification starts to saturate due to the finite-source effect, as demonstrated in this animation.
Wave-optics lensing. The amplification factor |F(w)| as a function of frequency.

02 — Publications

Selected papers

Newest first; the full list is on INSPIRE-HEP and Google Scholar. Co-authors are on the Collaborators page.

  1. 2026

    Microlensing by fast and slow compact objects

    Manish Tamta, Nirmal Raj, Himanshu Verma

    arXiv:2604.25434 astro-ph.CO

    arXiv PDF

  2. 2025

    Entering the window of primordial black hole dark matter with x-ray microlensing

    Manish Tamta, Nirmal Raj, Prateek Sharma

    Phys. Rev. D 111, 043043 (2025) arXiv:2405.20365 astro-ph.HE

    Journal arXiv PDF

Talks, posters & schools → Full CV →

03 — Contact

Get in touch

I’m always up for any kind of conversations, interdisciplinary discussions and collaborations — lensing, gravitational waves, dark matter, or ML for physics. Feel free to reach out.

Email
manishtamta@iisc.ac.in
Post
Department of Physics, IISc,
C. V. Raman Avenue, Bengaluru 560012, India
Elsewhere
Google Scholar arXiv INSPIRE-HEP ORCID GitHub X LinkedIn