Welcome
Black Holes and Neutron Stars: Spin, accretion, ejection, and disruption
New telescopes, detectors, and advanced techniques allow us to study black holes and neutron stars as never before. Research in the Miller group focuses on measuring the fundamental properties of these objects, such as black hole spin and the neutron star radius and equation of state. We also study how black holes grow and evolve, including the astrophysics of accretion, black hole feedback into local environments through radiation, winds, and jets, and the disruption of unfortunate stars that wander too close to black holes. The launch of XRISM makes it possible to utilize optical spectroscopic techniques to better reveal accretion disk structures, black hole masses, and fundamental accretion physics, and we are more than ready to get started. The future is very bright!
Introduction
I came to the University of Michigan in 2005. Prior to that, I was an NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian CfA, a graduate student at MIT, and an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania. I am continually energized by the ideas and drive of our diverse and active research group, by my colleagues around the world, and by the students in my classes. My roles in a number of new telescopes, approved missions in development, and new mission concepts keep me thinking about the future, which is sure to be very bright for studies of black holes and neutron stars. Past team members got their starts in Algeria, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Ecuador, Ireland, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Romania, South Korea, and even Ohio. As long as you respect others, there is always room in the team for excellent postdocs and fellows, graduate students, and undergraduates.
