Dong's Research Interest

Dong Lai's Research Group

Theoretical Astrophysics

Our current research interest includes

Compact Objects: Neutron stars (pulsars and magnetars), black hole accretion disks, white dwarfs (binary WDs), supernovae, gravitational waves, matter in strong magnetic fields.
Astrophysics of Exoplanets
Astrophysical fluid dynamics (hydrodynamics and MHD) in general: disks, waves, tides, instabilities, etc

Some of our research interests may be reflected in our publications (to be updated once in a while). A better place to look is in the arXiv.org or ADS (Astro) and ADS (Physics) .

Selected recent talks:

Dynamical Tides in Binaries (given in 2012 at CITA, IAS)
Astrophysics of Compact Objects (Part I), (Part II) (Two lectures in Sao Paulo)
Exoplanets and Star-Disk Interactions (given 2010-2011 at Princeton, Turin, LANL, Virginia, Northwestern, Rochester, etc)
Exciting Wave and Modes in BH Accretion Disks and Other Rotating Astrophysical Flows (given in 2010 and 2011 at UCSB, MPA, Saclay, Shanghai, etc):

Some talks in 2008-2009 (updated 6/2009):

Some older stuff... Here is an old (2007) statement of reserach etc.

Supernovae and Formation of Neutron Stars and Black Holes. See an image ; see my "Kick" review ;
Matter in Strong Magnetic Fields and Radiation from Magnetized Neutron stars. See an image ; see my RMP review and remarkable MSW-like photon oscillation effect ;
Accretion Disks, X-Ray Binaries, QPOs, protoplanetary disks, etc. See an image .
Relativistic Astrophysics and Gravitational Waves. See an image .

Students currently working in our group:

Graduate students:

James Fuller (Astronomy): Compact whit dwarf binaries.
Natalia Shabaltas (Physics): Radiation from magnetic neutron stars; fluid dynamics.
Ryan Miranda (Astronomy): Accretion disks

Visiting associates/postdocs:

Cong Yu (2011-2012): Wave dynamics in disks.

Undergarduate students:

Yuanjian Zheng '13 (Rawling Presidential Scholar)

Former Cornell students:

Ph.D. students:

Wynn Ho (Ph.D. 2003): Coalescing compact binaries and GWs; spin of young NSs and r-modes; NS atmospheres, radiative transfer in strong magnetic fields. Hubble fellow at Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, MIT --> postdoc at Harvard CfA --> Research associate at Univ. Southampton, UK.
Matt Van Adelsberg (Ph.D. 2005) Radiative transfer, NS thermal emission. Postdoc at U. Colorado/JILA --> Research associate at KITP; Georgia Tech.
Akiko Shirakawa (Ph.D. 2007): Magnetic accretion disks in X-ray binaries; Nucleosynthesis in young cooling NSs. Now works in industry.
Chen Wang (Ph.D. 2007 NAOC-Beijing; co-advisee): Pulsar kick phenomenology, wave propagation in pulsar/magnetar magnetospheres. Researcher at NAOC.
Zach Medin (Astronomy; PhD 2008): Quantum calculations of Matter in strong magnetic fields; pulsar/Magnetar surface and magnetosphere. Lorne Trottier postdoc fellow at McGill --> LANL.
David Tsang (Physics; PhD 2009): Radiation and Dynamics of BH accretion. Fairchild postdoc fellow at Caltech.
Wen Fu (Astronomy; PhD 2012): Wave dynamics of accretion disks and other rotating astrophysical flows. Postdoc at Rice Univ.

Other Cornell Ph.D. students I have worked with:

Phil Arras (Ph.D. 1999 with Wasserman): Neutrino transport in strong magnetic fields. Postddoc at CITA, KITP (UCSB), now assistant professor at Univ. Virginia
Harald Pfeiffer (Ph.D. 2003 with Teukolsky): Mainly worked numerical relativity with Teukolsky. Simulation of nonlinear dynamics of warped accretion disks. Fairchild Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech, now assitant prpfessor at CITA.
Francois Foucart (Ph.D. 2011 with Teukolsky): Warped disks, exoplanets. Postdoc fellow at CITA

Undergraduate students:

Paul Wiggins (A&EP, '99): Tidal interaction in NS-BH binaries. Ph.D. Caltech
Carolyn Sealfon (college scholar, '00): Matter in strong B-fields. Now a graduate student at U. Penn
Brian Cameron (college scholar, '03): Core collapse dynamics; matter in strong magnetic fields. Now a graduate student at Caltech.
Marcus Woo (Physics, '03): Radiation from neutron stars. Now a graduate student at U. Maryland
David Schwab (Cornell, '04)
Jared Gabor (Caltech, '05): REU summer student 2004. Now a graduate student at U. Arizona
Brad Austin (Columbia, '06): REU summer student
Tony Li (A&EP, Cornell, '09): Move to Stanford for graduate study.

Former Visiting Associates and postdocs:

Dr. Alexander Potekhin (Ioffe Institute, St Petersburg);
Dr. Hang Zhang (Nanjing Normal University);
Dr. Chen Wang (NAOC, Beijing);
Dr. Xiangdong Li (Nanjing University);
Dr. David Tsang (Cornell);
Dr. Teruaki Enoto (Tokyo);
Dr. Thierry Foglizzo (Saclay);
Dr. Cong Yu (CAS, Yunnan);
Dr. Heloise Meheut (Univ. Bern)

Joining our group: There are opennings for 1-2 graduate students (in physics and astronomy) in our group. Students interested in joining our research in theoretical astrophysics are encouraged to contact Dong Lai as early as possible.

We gratefully acknowledge NASA, NSF, Chandra, Fermi and the A.P. Sloan foundation for supporting our research over the years.

Back to Dong Lai's Homepage .