Discipline: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology

My group focuses on a range of questions related to the formation and evolution of galaxies, with a particular emphasis on the relation between dark and normal matter.

I am interested in early universe cosmology, particle astrophysics, and cosmology as a probe of fundamental physics. Much of my work centers on understanding the clues about the earliest moments of our universe encoded in the Cosmic Microwave Background, the faint glow of radiation generated by the Big Bang, and in the distribution of matter … Continued

I develop theories of the early universe, making a number of successful predictions within the standard dark energy/dark matter cosmology. My group pioneered investigations of theoretical scenarios including cosmic strings, inflationary “bubble” universes and cyclic models. We disproved the Hartle-Hawking proposal for inflationary universes. Additionally, we are developing an alternative, the CPT-invariant universe, which provides … Continued

My research has ranged from cosmology to the physics of intelligence, and is currently focused at the interface between physics, AI and neuroscience.

The standard cosmological model successfully reproduces the properties of the universe on supergalactic scales. However it is unclear whether it can reproduce the detailed properties of galaxies themselves, from their dark matter halos and subhalos, to their stellar populations, to the supermassive black holes found at the centers. Much theoretical work has been devoted to … Continued

Throughout history, observational studies of dying stars and their catastrophic demise in supernova explosions have focused almost entirely on optical data. Despite these traditional studies (6000 supernovae discovered to date) many critical questions remain unanswered, including what transpires in the final stages of stellar life, the basic explosion physics, and which stars give birth to … Continued

I work on the astrophysics of galaxy formation and the interface between forming galaxies and the intergalactic medium. Much of my work is based on the most sensitive spectroscopic observations of distant galaxies, with particular focus on the era between 10 and 12 billion years ago — the peak epoch of galaxy formation. We have … Continued

An observationally oriented theorist, my main field of research is extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology. My research focus of the past several years has been (1) the chemical and kinematical evolution of the Milky Way based on the analysis of large spectroscopic surveys and (2) detailed high resolution simulations of the formation of disk galaxies and … Continued

We study the nature of Dark Energy and Dark Matter, and related aspects of fundamental physics. Our recent projects have primarily used the tools and techniques of observational astronomy, since these provide us the opportunity to measure the properties of the dark sector where the signal is non-zero. Current projects include: Measuring the expansion history … Continued

My research interests address the questions of how galaxies form, evolve, and interact with their intergalactic environments over cosmic time. My group uses telescopes both on Earth and in space to collect images and spectra of extremely distant galaxies. Recently, we performed a large survey of the rest-frame optical spectra of a statistical sample of … Continued