Planets form from the cold molecular disks surrounding Myr-old stars. These stars are energetically active in their youth, emitting high fluxes of UV and X-ray photons along with energetic particles. Nearby stars in the cluster may also provide external UV, enhanced cosmic rays, and radioactive pollutants. These energetic processes shape how planets form and their … Continued
My proposed research reveals a transformative picture of how supermassive black holes form in galaxies, and how a black hole’s formation in turn affects its host galaxy. This approach resolves the most critical, missing pieces in understanding galaxy and black hole assembly, and at the same time improves the science return from current and future … Continued
Currently, the Earth is the only planet known to harbor life. My group will advance the search for life on other planets and launch the new field of comprehensive planetary habitability by pursuing three key research goals. First, we will identify nearby planets by searching data from the recently launched Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Second, … Continued
Our best end-to-end test of cosmology, comparing my team’s measured size of the universe today to the predicted size of the universe today using early-universe measurements and our standard model of cosmology, fails. This failure may be a sign that we are on the brink of the biggest discovery in cosmology in the last twenty … Continued
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