Most of my research concerns the application of particle and fluid dynamics to astrophysical problems, usually, though not always, through large-scale computer simulations. A particular emphasis has been on the structure and stability of rapidly rotating systems in three dimensions, especially young stellar objects, protoplanetary disks, and planetary ring systems. I am particularly interested in early and late stages of stellar evolution, star and planet formation, and N-body dynamics.
Simulations of fluid and particle system dynamics applied to star and planet formation, the structure and stability of astrophysical disks, and planetary ring systems.
Because most of the systems I study are complex and multi-dimensional, my simulation codes require high performance computing environments and sometimes complex algorithms.
Astronomy, Astrophysics, Celestial Mechanics, Condensed Matter, Fluid Mechanics, Galaxies, Stellar Systems, Geophysics, Gravitation, Lunar Sciences, Magnetohydrodynamics, Planetary Studies, Radiosources, Infrared, X-ray, Gamma Ray, Relativity, Supercomputers
Because most of my work involved self-gravity as an important component, my work is usually not relvant for any industrial applications. However, I have plans to perform N-body studies of dust-laden plasmas or colloidal systems which *might* have some practical applications, yet to be determined.
I am currently working on gravitational instabilities in massive protostellar disk in an effort to understand conditions under which planets might form. I plan to undertake N-body simulations of young star clusters as an extension of earlier work on few-body systems. I am also involved in observational work on star formation using Indiana University's share of the 3.5 meter WIYN telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. After a lull, I am returning to work on rotating degenerate configurations that canform during an aborted supernova event ('fizzlers') and on the modeling of active galactic nuclei.
