resolving black holes
an astrophysics research group at CU Boulder, JILA, and MPE Garching studying the observational properties of gas falling onto black holes (accretion flows) and their use as probes of strong gravity.
research highlights
Members of our group played core roles in major discoveries in black hole astrophysics in 2018-2019, including the first studies resolving black holes on scales of the event horizon. We shared the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for the first image of a black hole, awarded to the Event Horizon Telescope team.
Sgr A* flares from magnetic reconnection
Dexter et al. 2020, MNRAS
orbiting gas near the event horizon of the Galactic center black hole
GRAVITY Collaboration, 2018, A&A Letters
ESO press release
Scientific American article
using polarization to extract the black hole photon ring
Jiménez-Rosales, Dexter, et al. 2020, MNRAS
rotation of high velocity gas around a supermassive black hole
GRAVITY Collaboration: Sturm, Dexter, Pfuhl, Stock, et al., 2018, Nature
Nature News & Views article
MPE press release
extreme variability of accreting supermassive black holes
Dexter & Begelman, 2019, MNRAS Letters
group members
I am happy to talk with interested students at any time. Prospective postdoctoral applicants should get in touch and apply for a JILA fellowship.
summer 2021 JILA(+remote) research group: Michelle Athay, Tyler Bishop, Kirk Long, Sajal Gupta, Lia Hankla (graduate students); Arpi Grigorian, Eleanor Gentry, Philippe Yao (undergraduate/postgraduate students); Nicolas Scepi and Alexander Chen (postdoctoral fellows)
former: Raphael Stock (now PhD student, TUM), Alejandra Jiménez-Rosales (now postdoctoral researcher, Radboud University Nijmegen), Michi Bauböck, Idel Waisberg (now postdoctoral fellow, Weizmann Institute), Ayman Bin Kamruddin (Universite Paris Sud MSc student), Angelo Ricarte (Harvard postdoc), Alwin Mao (Princeton graduate student), Egid Sicheneder
contact
Office: JILA A909
Phone: +1 303-492-7836
Boulder, CO, USA