I'm Utkarsh Mali

a PhD Candidate

Welcome

at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics | University of Toronto

½Û×ÓÊÓƵ Me

½Û×ÓÊÓƵ Me

I'm a gravitational wave astrophysicist at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) and a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration.

Working under the supervision of Reed Essick, my research lies at the intersection of gravitational wave astrophysics and statistical inference.

I develop and apply hierarchical Bayesian inference methods to populations of gravitational wave sources to extract robust insights about the Universe from noisy, incomplete data.

View CV

Research

Research

Gravitational Wave Populations

Constraining compact binary populations using new and ongoing gravitational-wave observations.

Neutron Stars

Constraining neutron star structure through consistency between equations of state and gravitational-wave observations.

Gravitational Wave Cosmology

Probing cosmology with gravitational waves from binary mergers, using sub-structure in the detected mass distribution within the spectral sirens framework.

Statistics

Developing robust statistical frameworks to infer properties from noisy, incomplete data, addressing selection bias, model misspecification, and scalable inference.

Publications

Publications

PRD

Utkarsh Mali & Reed Essick Mar 2026

Neutron star classifications near the lower mass gap shows sensitivity to population hyperparameters and EOS assumptions, yielding broad P(NS) uncertainty despite data.

PRD

Reed Essick et al. (incl. Utkarsh Mali) Nov 2025

Sensitivity estimates for compact binary coalescence detection during the fourth observing run.

PRD

Sailesh Mohanty, Utkarsh Mali et al. Oct 2024

Modeling of NS oscillation modes across non-parametric EOS improves frequency predictions, enabling more robust inference of dynamical tides in NS mergers.

Sensors

Dung Ho et al. (incl. Utkarsh Mali) Dec 2019

Infrared spectroscopy with PCA reveals intrinsic microscale heterogeneity motivating multidimensional authentication frameworks. (Undergraduate Research)

(arXiv) ApJ

LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (incl. Utkarsh Mali) Oct 2025

Population properties of merging compact binaries during the fourth observing run.

ApJ

Utkarsh Mali & Reed Essick April 2025

Spectral sirens show multiple mass features correlate with the expansion rate. The 9 and 32 solar mass peaks independently constrain cosmology, with model-independent statistics mitigating population systematics.

SSC21-WKII

Dylan Vogel et al. (incl. Utkarsh Mali) Jul 2021

We engineered and deployed the HERON CubeSat to study gene expression in low earth orbit, enabling low cost, open source biosatellite architectures. (Undergraduate Work)

Teaching

Teaching

Introduction to Physics I Teaching Assistant, PHY131

Anonymous Student Feedback:

"I thought practicals were extremely fun and helped stimulate my learning and understanding of physics"

"Really great, extremely helpful and encouraging"

"I think the practicals were the best part of physics for me. Both instructors are awesome people that you should cherish."

"Excellent TA, very helpful, kind and approachable. Passionate about teaching students"

"Introduction to Physics II" Teaching Assistant, PHY132

Anonymous Student Feedback:

"Probably one of the best TAs I have had in my entire university experience."

"Utkarsh is an extremely helpful and thought-provoking TA. He is awesome, and his passion for physics is apparent in every one of his explanations to students. I greatly appreciate all of his help during the PHY132 practicals this semester."

"Physics II" Teaching Assistant, PHY152

Anonymous Student Feedback:

"Utkarsh is good at explaining concepts and very kind."

"Great job especially with helping for problem sets, very good at helping me understand and not just showing the answers."

"Very helpful and approachable!"