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

Current Members

• Uddipan Banik: galactic dynamics, galaxy formation and evolution, dark matter, kinetic theory, and structure formation. While at IAS, Uddipan will conduct research on the relaxation of collisionless and weakly collisional systems, e.g., galaxies, (cold and self-interacting) dark matter halos, and collisionless plasma.

• Shi-Fan Chen: large scale structure of the universe and studies both its evolution and use to constrain fundamental physics, with an emphasis on perturbative methods. A particular recent interest has involved using these techniques in the arena of cross correlations, which he plans to further develop at the Institute.

• Sihao Cheng: using statistical analysis to understand our Universe, including topics in cosmology, stellar physics, and extrasolar planets. Recently he has become interested in developing analytical tools inspired by neural networks and studying their connection to and applications in physics.

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

• Rebecca Diesing: acceleration and astrophysical impact of cosmic rays. She is currently using a detailed model of cosmic ray acceleration to better understand the evolutions and environments of extreme astrophysical phenomena, such as supernova remnants, novae, and winds launched by active galactic nuclei.

• Callum Fairbairn: the nonlinear dynamics of distorted astrophysical discs;  protoplanetary gas-dust dynamics, planet formation processes and planet-disc interactions; disc instabilities; and debris discs.

• Chris Hamilton: dynamics of galaxies, globular clusters, binary stars, and planetary systems; compact object mergers (LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave progenitors); and the kinetic theory of stellar systems and plasmas.

• Hsiang-Chih Hwang: Binary stars, binary quasars, galactic dynamics, galactic archaeology, chemical abundances, white dwarfs

• Nickolas Kokron: the formation of large-scale dark matter structures in the Universe and their connection to luminous tracers such as galaxies. He employs both numerical simulations and pen-and-paper theory in this study, with an emphasis on techniques that combine both paradigms.

• Tomohiro Ono: focuses on planet formation and numerical algorithms for astrophysical magnetohydrodynamic simulations. While at IAS, he will work on the improvement and optimization of the Athena++ code.

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

• Gabriela Sato-Polito: connecting new observations of the most elusive corners of the Universe with tests of fundamental physics. Her recent work explores techniques to map the matter distribution in the distant Universe, and measurements of gravitational waves by precisely timing pulsars.

• Digvijay Wadekar: Gravitational wave data analysis with LIGO/Virgo data. Application of interpretable machine learning techniques to cosmology (galaxy and CMB-SZ surveys). Dark matter phenomenology with dwarf galaxies.

• George Wong: high-energy astrophysical phenomena, especially in the context of accretion onto supermassive black holes; connection between black holes and relativistic jets as might be observed by next-generation experiments.

• Tomer Yavetz: applying the tools of theoretical dynamics in order to understand a variety of phenomena, ranging from the orbits of Earth satellites to the nature of dark matter. His main focus is on studying the distribution and substructure of dark matter in the Milky Way.

• Lizhong Zhang: using numerical methods to study and model accretion onto compact objects. He is particularly interested in high-energy astronomical systems where radiation plays a dominant role in driving the dynamics, such as super-Eddington accretion onto strongly magnetized neutron stars.

• Muni Zhou: uses a combination of analytic theory and numerical experiments to study plasma physics problems such as magnetogenesis, plasma dynamos, and kinetic turbulence.