Astrophysics Seminars

Deep generative models offer powerful tools for solving astrophysical inference problems by enabling flexible representations of prior knowledge and likelihood functions. 

In the first part of the talk, I will discuss how generative models can be...

Since its launch just two and a half years ago, JWST has made multiple remarkable discoveries. I will discuss the search for ever more distant galaxies and accreting black holes, and the implications of these observations for our theories of...

The so-called galaxy--halo connection is a vast topic concerning how galaxies populate their host dark matter halos.  I will present some works we have made under this grand theme, including (1) the detection of assembly bias signal with the help of...

The first structures of particle dark matter form by gravitationally condensing out of the smooth mass distribution of the early universe. This formation mechanism leaves these "prompt cusps" with uniquely compact r^-1.5 density profiles and links...

Neutron stars born with magnetic fields greater than 1014 G (“magnetars”) are common in the Galaxy. Approximately 10 - 50% of the young neutron star population possesses such field strengths. These objects exhibit very slow rotation, spectacular...

Stars orbiting sufficiently close to massive black holes inevitably inspiral towards the black hole due to gravitational wave radiation. The fate of such stars is subtle and depends on an interplay between tidal heating of the star, mass transfer...

Turbulence is common in astrophysical environments and is often invoked to explain the origin of non-thermal particles in various sources. However, the mechanisms responsible for accelerating particles to high non-thermal energies remain poorly...

Observations of fluctuations in the CMB provide information about primordial inhomogeneities in the universe. However, the B-mode polarization of the inflationary gravitational wave is contaminated by the Galactic dust and synchrotron foreground...

Pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments aim to detect nHz-frequency gravitational waves using high-precision timing of millisecond pulsars. Multiple PTA collaborations have recently reported evidence for a stochastic gravitational wave background...