Hi! I started my at the IfA in 2023 after graduating from Indiana University. Although I’m interested in a broad range of topics (like proto-superclusters, described below), a lot of my research is based around collisionless plasma physics. In many cases, this involves using “particle-in-cell” (PIC) simulations that I run on supercomputers. Unlike things like MHD simulations — which rely on the assumption of collisionally (i.e. a fluid-approximation) — PIC codes work by effectively evolving individual groups of particles with only Maxwell’s equations and the Lorentz force. Although this makes these codes expensive, it means that I am able to more accurately model low-density or ultra-relativistic plasmas where other codes may begin to miss some important physics.

For my PhD thesis, I’m working with Colby Haggerty, as well as Lorenzo Sironi at Columbia, in studying the collisionless plasma processes that are present in the jets of active galactic nuclei. Understanding these effects are important not only in understanding how the jet physically evolves as it propagates into the intergalactic medium, but also in how we interpret the emission we observe from the jet. While MHD simulations are able to capture much of the large-scale dynamics of the jet (e.g., how its strucutre changes as it propagates outwards), they tend to smooth over some of the important collisionless properties. Using PIC simulations, my goal is to expand our existing understanding of jets to make a more physically-grounded and self-consistent model of the physics driving their evolution and emission.

Since my second year, I’ve also been working with Colby Haggerty on using PIC simulations to study interesting phenomena in magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous process in astrophysics — occurring in places like the magnetosphere, the solar wind, the stellar coronae, turbulence in the interstellar medium, accretion disks, etc. — in which oppositely oriented magnetic fields “reconnect” and change their topology, thereby releasing energy into the surrounding plasma. While there are lots of interesting questions that still need to be explored, I’ve mostly been working on how things change when the plasma in which reconnection occurs flows along the oppositely oriented field lines, leading to a velocity shear. We find that this “shear flow” reconnection seems to be pretty  good at heating up the plasma, which could have important implications for astrophysical turbulence.

Outside of PIC simulations, I also am interested in the way in which galaxies in clusters in the early universe evolve differently due to their enviornment. Since my first year at the IfA, I have been working with the “Charting Cluster Construction with VUDS and ORELSE” (C3VO) survey to understand galaxy evolution in high-redshift, overdense envirnoments. Specifically, I’ve been looking at Hyperion proto-supercluster, a massive structure of galaxies at a redshift of ~2.5 in the COSMOS field. By combining photometry from the COSMOS survey with spectroscopy that C3VO has, I’ve been studying the enhancement of stellar mass and star formation in Hyperion’s galaxies as a result of its overdense environment.

Outside of Astronomy, I like to read, run, and have been trying to learn guitar!