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Information on my publications and attended meetings can be found on my Homepage.
My major astronomical interests are the formation and evolution of close binary
systems, and the impact of stellar explosions on the chemical evolution of galaxies.
My research is focused on studying close binaries involving
one or more white dwarfs using population synthesis binary evolution models.
I received my PhD from NMSU in May 2009 (advisor: Krzysztof Belczynski). I spent my last year of graduate studies as an SAO Predoctoral Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA, where I completed my doctoral work on Type Ia SNe progenitors (SAO advisor: Jonathan Grindlay).
In September 2009, I started a postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany, where I will continue to study SN Ia progenitors.
NMSU Research
SNe Ia.
My most recent project, which I am working on with my advisor Krzysztof Belczynski (Los Alamos), focuses on
determining the most likely formation channels for Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia). In building delay time
distributions and computing rates of various SN Ia progenitor scenario models (varying star formation
history, metallicity, common envelope evolution etc.), we aim to constrain evolutionary histories of
SN Ia progenitors.
LISA.
One other major component of my research focuses on the study of close remnant binary pairs (such as double
white dwarfs) in the Galaxy via population synthesis.
Close compact object binaries will lose energy and orbital angular momentum owing to loss of gravitational radiation (GR).
The gravitational waves emitted by Galactic double white dwarf binaries will be detectable with
LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), and these systems
are in fact expected to be a source of confusion-limited noise. With Matt Benacquista at
University of Texas (Brownsville), and Shane Larson at Utah State University (Logan),
we are studying the different effects which Roche Lobe Overflow (RLOF) vs. detached double white
dwarf binaries will have on the shape and strength on the LISA GR signal
With M. Benacquista and Kelly Holley-Bockelmann (Vanderbilt), we have studied the effects of low metallicity halo double
WDs on the LISA GR signal.
X-ray Binaries.
I have also studied X-ray luminosities of accreting white dwarfs in order
to determine if the faint X-ray sources in the Galactic centre (observed with the
Chandra X-ray Observatory) can be explained by
Intermediate Polars (subclass of Cataclysmic Variables). With Craig Heinke (U. Alberta), we have
also investigated the X-ray properties of magnetic vs. non-magnetic CVs in the Galactic centre.
Masters Research (SMU).
Page last updated Sept. 2009.