We have just submitted a paper (arXiv) to the Astrophysical Journal Letters on the UV luminosity function of the first galaxies. This paper presents some of the first results from the Renaissance Simulations, which is a trio of physics-rich galaxy formation simulations that focus on the earliest epochs, including the first metal-free (Population III stars), … Continue Reading ››

Late last year, I was invited to give a TEDx talk just to the west of Atlanta. TEDxDouglasville will be held on Saturday, April 4th at 10:30am. This event has the motto, "In with the Old, In with the New". I've decided to speak on galaxy evolution, using both the old and new … Continue Reading ››

Over the course of the last year of Gabriel's tenure in the group, we were working on Rabacus, an analytic toolkit for cosmological radiative transfer problems. Its method paper was recently accepted (arXiv) for publication in the relatively new journal Astronomy & Computing. Rabacus can accommodate arbitrary spectra and density profiles and includes the … Continue Reading ››

I am deeply honored to have been selected to receive the Dunn Family Professorship. It was established "to recognize excellence in research scholarship of faculty members at the School of Physics in the early stages of their careers". Its support will aid in furthering our research efforts in early galaxy formation and promoting the scholarship … Continue Reading ››

Late last week, we submitted a new article that focuses on convergence tests on dark matter resolution in simulations that deal with a gas-dominated collapse. This is relevant in collapse problems that are centered in a dark matter halo, such as metal-free stars and black holes that directly collapse from a proto-galactic gas cloud. … Continue Reading ››

The whole group attended the 225th American Astronomical Society Meeting held in Seattle, WA earlier this month. Here Aycin presented our latest results in a contributed talk titled "Songlines from Direct Collapse Black Holes", and my graduate students and I presented our work in the following five posters.

• Kirk Barrow - "First Light: Exploring the Spectra … Continue Reading ››

Last week our paper titled "Fully-Coupled Simulation of Cosmic Reionization. I: Numerical Methods and Tests" was accepted to the Astrophysical Journal Supplement. This paper was written in collaboration with a few colleagues in UC-San Diego, and SMU.  I was added to this work during the review process when it was determined that we needed a … Continue Reading ››

Last month my first postdoc, Gabriel Altay, accepted a job offer at Narrative Science in Chicago, where he will be developing software for natural language generation. It's been great having him on-board for the last two years, helping me build up my group. His interactions inside the group and CRA will be missed. Good luck … Continue Reading ››

Our paper (arXiv) on the response of the gas in the nuclear regions of the first galaxies, titled "Songlines from Direct Collapse Seed Black Holes: Effects of X-rays on Black Hole Growth and Stellar Populations", has been accepted to the Astrophysical Journal!  It should … Continue Reading ››

Today, we have submitted a paper (arXiv) on the initial growth of massive black hole seeds to The Astrophysical Journal. The growth of supermassive black holes (BHs) has been intricately linked to galaxy formation and evolution and is a key ingredient in the assembly of galaxies. In this study, we investigate the growth of massive BHs … Continue Reading ››