Astrophysics Research Interests

Faculty

• Professor James Stone: Astrophysical gas dynamics; star and planet formation, accretion flows, interstellar gas dynamics. Numerical algorithms for magneto-hydrodynamics and radiation hydrodynamics
• Professor Matias Zaldarriaga: Cosmology -- early universe cosmology, cosmological perturbation theory, cosmic microwave background, large-scale structure, dark matter and dark energy

Visiting Professor

• Maureen and John Hendricks Visiting Professor Rashid Sunyaev: Theoretical astrophysics, high energy astrophysics and cosmology: including CMB, clusters of galaxies, theory of accretion onto black holes and neutron stars, interaction of matter and radiation under astrophysical conditions, x-ray astronomy

Current Members

• Lev Arzamasskiy: Plasma astrophysics, collisionless turbulence, particle heating, plasma instabilities, accretion disks, solar wind, intracluster medium

• Gaspar Bakos: All-sky variability, transiting extrasolar planets, cosmic explosions, astronomical instrumentation, robotic telescopes

• Giovanni Cabass: Effective field theory methods in cosmology: inflation and large-scale structure; galaxy bias; non-Gaussianity of primordial gravitational waves

• Sukanya Chakrabarti: Galactic dynamics (dark matter, dwarf galaxies; simulations and observations), time-domain astronomy (lensed supernovae)

• Horng Sheng Chia: Gravitational waves, orbital dynamics, black holes and neutron stars, astroparticle physics, dark matter, physics beyond the Standard Model, cosmology

• Susan Clark: Magnetic fields, interstellar medium, polarized cosmological foregrounds, magnetohydrodynamics, magnetorotational instability, pattern formation, machine vision

• Shany Danieli: Galaxy formation and evolution, galactic dynamics, dark matter, near-field cosmology, dwarf galaxies, ultra-diffuse galaxies, globular clusters, stellar populations, low surface brightness imaging and spectroscopy, astronomical surveys, instrumentation

• Jo Dunkley: Cosmology, cosmic microwave background, neutrinos, large-scale structure, dark matter, dark energy

• Brenda Frye: Gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters, galaxy cluster evolution, lensed transients, intergalactic medium, data analysis techniques

• Daniel Grin: Ultra-light axions, primordial recombination, generalized dark-matter models, cosmic-microwave background theory, varying fundamental 'constants', primordial isocurvature fluctuations, applications of principal component analysis, CMB spectral distortions, and dark-matter direct detection

• Alexander Kaurov: Reionization, cosmology, early universe and galaxy formation, 21 cm probes; dark matter annihilation; neutron stars

• Helmer Koppelman: Formation and evolution of the Milky Way, Galactic dynamics, large astronomical surveys (emphasis on Gaia), dark matter, N-body simulations, big data analysis, machine learning

• Lia Medeiros: Black holes, the Galactic center black hole Sgr A*, the Event Horizon Telescope, tests of GR, accretion disks, variability of accreting systems, principal components analysis, simulations

• Elias Most: Gravitational waves, neutron stars, neutron star equation of state, neutron star mergers, electromagnetic precursors, magnetohydrodynamics, numerical relativity, numerical methods for astrophysical fluid dynamics

• Elena Murchikova: Milky Way's Galactic Centre black hole Sagittarius A*; black hole accretion; accretion disks; ALMA; neutron stars and chiral fluids

• Roman Rafikov: Theoretical astrophysics, planetary sciences, planet formation, N-body dynamics, astrophysical fluid dynamics, accretion disks, high-energy astrophysics

• Carolyn Raithel: Neutron stars, the dense-matter equation of state, gravitational waves, neutron star mergers, Bayesian inference, numerical simulations, core-collapse supernovae

• Yuan-Sen Ting: Machine learning; formation and evolution of the Milky Way; local group cosmology; stellar atmosphere and spectra; stellar populations; stellar evolution; galactic dynamics; intermediate mass black holes; cosmology; weak lensing

• Elizabeth Tolman: Magnetic reconnection, magnetohydrodynamics, kinetic theory, plasma transport, plasmoid instability, pulsars, tokamaks

• Benjamin Wallisch: Cosmology – cosmic microwave background, large-scale structure, neutrinos and other light relics, cosmological signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model, inflation

• David Weinberg: Cosmology, large scale structure and weak lensing as probes of cosmic acceleration; galaxy formation, chemical evolution of the Milky Way; astronomical surveys

• Siyao Xu: Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, turbulent dynamo, magnetic reconnection, cosmic rays, (first) star formation, high-energy astrophysics, interstellar / intergalactic turbulence

• Barak Zackay: Applications of algorithms, statistics and signal processing in observational astronomy, particularly in searching for optical transients, fast radio bursts, pulsars, gravitational waves and exoplanets; anything that relates to pulsars, fast radio bursts, planets and gravitational waves