Neutron stars and black holes are often discovered when telescopes detect light produced in their vicinity. The common challenge to explain these stunning observations is understanding the behavior of plasma, the hot magnetized gas producing the emission, under conditions we cannot explore on Earth. Remarkable recent observational discoveries, including Fast Radio Bursts and silhouettes of … Continued
My research lies at the intersection of astrophysics and statistical machine learning. The next decade promises a Big Data revolution in astrophysics. I use observational studies of the Cosmos to understand how stars die via collisions and explosions. Stellar death enriches our universe with the next generation of heavy elements. I explore “when” and “where” … Continued
My research focuses on young galaxies that formed in the first 2-3 billion years of cosmic time, with a particular emphasis on their chemical abundance patterns. These patterns allow us to determine how quickly galaxies evolved but are notoriously difficult to measure accurately. I recently developed a novel technique to compute gas temperatures, densities, and … Continued
I study extreme explosions occurring in distant galaxies in order to learn about the lives and deaths of stars: how a star’s properties determine its manner of death and its corpse (black hole or neutron star). This work is important because a wide range of questions, from the evolution of galaxies to the origin of … Continued
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory has observed high-energy neutrinos produced in some of the most violent processes in the Universe. But despite of more than a decade of observations only a few neutrino sources have been identified. Identifying these sources presents an unprecedented opportunity to study neutrinos. My proposal aims to exploit the fact that neutrinos … Continued
My research lies at the intersection of astrophysics and software engineering. As an astrophysicist, I study how galaxies evolve; in particular, I investigate how supernova explosions and other energetic phenomena blow gas out of star-forming galaxies (like our own Milky Way), affecting the rate at which those galaxies form new stars and build up mass … Continued
Since 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has detected nearly 100 gravitational waves from merging black holes across the Universe. But despite this wealth of new astronomical data and the enormous questions it can answer (How fast is the universe expanding? What is dark matter? How are stars and galaxies made over cosmic time?), … Continued
Astronomical surveys which repeatedly image the sky have revealed that our universe is full of cosmic transients, or sources that change in brightness over time. As a Packard Fellow, I will identify the origins of a mysterious and prolific class of intense, millisecond transients: Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). Taking advantage of newly-commissioned FRB experiments that … Continued
Magnetized turbulence is the cornerstone of astrophysical fluid dynamics and related processes such as star formation, cosmic ray propagation, accretion disk physics, and the structure of the interstellar medium. Richard Feynman aptly described turbulence as “the most important unsolved problem in classical physics” and I pursue solutions using statistical comparisons between observations and numerical simulations, … Continued
Cosmic acceleration is one of the most surprising cosmological discovery in decades, as it lies outside the standard model of physics. It could be caused by repulsive vacuum energy, it could be driven by a more dynamical form of dark energy with exotic physical properties, or it could reflect a breakdown of general relativity on … Continued