The craters on Earth tell a story of periodic impacts from space. All explanations to date invoke an unseen astronomical body to repeatedly disturb the cloud of comets in the outer Solar System. But no such body has been found. The answer, proposed here, lies in the cloud itself. The trillions of comets in orbit … Continued
The first detection of both gravitational waves and photons from a binary neutron star merger illuminated an exquisite laboratory to simultaneously study strong-field gravity and matter in extreme environments. With both binary neutron star and binary black hole mergers detected, the next major milestone is the detection of gravitational waves from a neutron star merging … Continued
My research is primarily aimed at understanding the formation and evolution of planetary systems. My work spans a wide range of topics related to the conglomeration of the solar system, orbital dynamics of exoplanets, as well as magnetic coupling between planetary interiors and weakly ionized atmospheres. My recent theoretical work on the trans-Neptunian region of … Continued
Understanding the nature of dark energy and dark matter, which together make up 95% of the mass-energy density of the current-day universe, are two of the most fundamental questions in modern physics. My research group specializes in the design, analysis, and theoretical interpretation of maps of the sky containing millions of galaxies, in order to … Continued
I am an observational astronomer who uses dozens of telescopes to observe stars, supernovae, and exotic astrophysical transients. I am particularly interested in using a particular kind of supernova, Type Ia supernovae, to measure the cosmic expansion history of the Universe. With these measurements, my team is making the best measurements of dark energy to … Continued
My work is focused on discovering and characterizing black holes in globular star clusters using radio, X-ray, and optical telescopes. These results directly impact many areas of astrophysics: the formation of compact binaries and gravitational wave sources, which stars explode and which directly form black holes in “failed” supernovae, and the origin of supermassive black … Continued
By studying the atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system, also known as an “exoplanets,” my goal is to gain a deeper understanding of planetary formation, physics, chemistry and ultimately, habitability. Using ground and space-based telescopes, my research group is interested in detecting and characterizing these worlds and eventually identifying other Earth-like planets.
We explore the Universe using the power of statistical analyses applied to large astronomical datasets. Our group pioneers techniques to uncover new astrophysical phenomena from observations of the sky across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Our interests range from stars in the Milky Way to distant galaxies across the Universe.
Our research group combines surface science experiments and radio astronomy to explore the chemistry that regulates the formation efficiencies and nascent compositions of planets, including their surface abundances of water and organics, i.e. their chemical habitability. Thanks to the arrival of new generation of microwave telescopes, especially ALMA, the chemistry in disks around young stars, … Continued
I study the formation and evolution of galaxies across cosmic time. My research group is focused on understanding the connection between galaxies and dark matter, using models to determine the stellar content of galaxies, and decoding the assembly of the Milky Way galaxy via N-body simulations and analysis of large datasets.