PhD
Physics
Biography
Dr. Sanil Unnikrishnan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. He earned his M.Sc. in Physics from IIT Delhi and his Ph.D. from the Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, specializing in Theoretical Cosmology. His research experience includes postdoctoral positions at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapuram. Prior to joining St. Stephen’s College, he served as an Assistant Professor at LNMIIT, Jaipur, and SMVD University, Katra.
Research Interests
Dr. Unnikrishnan’s research primarily lies in the broad areas of General Relativity and Cosmology, with a keen focus on:
i) Cosmological Perturbation Theory
ii) Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe
iii) Inflation and Early Universe Cosmology
iv) Modified Theories of Gravity as an alternative to Dark Energy
Selected Publications:
1. Can cosmological observations uniquely determine the nature of dark energy?
Sanil Unnikrishnan, Phys. Rev. D 78, 063007 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.78.063007
2. The effective speed of sound in cosmological perturbation theory,
Sanil Unnikrishnan, General Relativity and Gravitation 58, 77 (2026).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10714-026-03583-6
3. Refining inflation using non-canonical scalars, Sanil Unnikrishnan, Varun Sahni, and Aleksey Toporensky, JCAP 1208 (2012) 018.
https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2012/08/018
i) Cosmological Perturbation Theory
ii) Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe
iii) Inflation and Early Universe Cosmology
iv) Modified Theories of Gravity as an alternative to Dark Energy
Selected Publications:
1. Can cosmological observations uniquely determine the nature of dark energy?
Sanil Unnikrishnan, Phys. Rev. D 78, 063007 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.78.063007
2. The effective speed of sound in cosmological perturbation theory,
Sanil Unnikrishnan, General Relativity and Gravitation 58, 77 (2026).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10714-026-03583-6
3. Refining inflation using non-canonical scalars, Sanil Unnikrishnan, Varun Sahni, and Aleksey Toporensky, JCAP 1208 (2012) 018.
https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2012/08/018