Astrophysics

In the inner Milky Way stars trek together in a bar-shaped, rotating overdensity: the central bar, which dominates the inner disc out half-way to the Sun. The rotation velocity/pattern speed of this bar has been intensely debated. The best insight...

Abstract: I will present general arguments, based on fundamental physics principles, as to why we should expect a significant, horizon scale, departure from semiclassical gravity inside astrophysical black holes. Then, I will present a simple model...

Abstract: As the event catalog has grown from O(10) to O(100), the field of gravitational-wave astronomy has been rapidly unfolding. We are moving from a phase of initial discovery into an era of population studies. The hope is that these...

The planetary systems of white dwarf (WD) stars are fertile ground for insight on the properties and evolution of planetary systems in general. Interest in WD planets has grown dramatically of late, sparking collaborative efforts across diverse...

Each week, we hold a relatively informal seminar/discussion series with an emphasis on extra-galactic and large-scale structure astrophysics.

During Galread a leader/visitor presents a recent paper to the discussion group. The PDF of the paper is...

It is a fundamental question in extragalactic astronomy to understand the coevolution between massive black holes (MBHs) and their host galaxies. In this talk, I will present our efforts covering low to high levels (i.e., data to science) in...

I will present a new evidence for dark matter from the measurement of the deceleration of the Galactic bar. Galactic bars are linear structures that form and rotate at the center of galactic disks. In the presence of dark matter haloes, these bars...

Understanding the evolution of galaxies across cosmic time requires that we understand the detailed properties of their interstellar gas reservoirs. Observations with radio telescopes can probe the cool phases of these reservoirs, in which hydrogen...