Overview
General relativity and relativistic astrophysics; numerical relativity; black hole and neutron star physics; computational physics
Research Focus
My major research interests include general relativity, relativistic astrophysics, and computational astrophysics. I am engaged in a long-term project to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity by computer. One of the goals of this project is to predict the gravitational wave form from coalescing black holes in binary orbit about each other. An exciting moment was when our wave form was used to compare theory with experiment in the first detection by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). My recent research has spanned many other topics in relativistic astrophysics. I have worked on naked singularities in general relativity; the properties of rapidly rotating neutron stars, including possible observational signatures in pulsars; exploding neutron stars; relativistic stellar dynamics, and planets around pulsars. Most of this work is done in collaboration with other members of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group, including graduate students.
Graduate Students
Jooheon Yoo
Postdocs
Larry Kidder, Mike Boyle, Will Throwe, Alex Pandya
Awards and Honors
Einstein Prize, American Physical Society (2021); Dirac Medal (2021)
Publications
The SpECTRE Cauchy-Characteristic Evolution System for Rapid, Precise Waveform Extraction, J. Moxon, M. A. Scheel, S. A. Teukolsky, N. Deppe, N. Fischer, F. Hebert, L. E. Kidder, and W. Throwe, Phys. Rev. D 107 064013 (2023).
A High-Order Shock Capturing Discontinuous Galerkin-Finite-Difference Hybrid Method for GRMHD, N. Deppe, F. Hebert, L. E. Kidder, and S. A. Teukolsky, Class. Quantum Grav. 39 195001 (2022).
Testing the Black-Hole Area Law with GW150914, M. Isi, W. M. Farr, M. Giesler, M. A. Scheel, and S. A. Teukolsky, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127 011103 (2021).
Computation of Displacement and Spin Memory in Numerical Relativity, K. Mitman et al, Phys. Rev. D 102 104007 (2020).
SpECTRE: A Task-based Discontinuous Galerkin Code for Relativistic Astrophysics, L. E. Kidder et al, J.Comput. Phys. 335 84 (2017).
Properties of the Binary Black Hole Merger GW150914, The LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 241102 (2016).
Formulation of Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Relativistic Astrophysics, S. A. Teukolsky, J. Comp. Phys. 312, 333 (2016).
Toroidal Horizons in Binary Black Hole Mergers, A. Bohn, L. E. Kidder and S. A. Teukolsky, Phys. Rev. D 94, 064009 (2016).
Numerical Recipes: The Art of Scientific Computing, W. H. Press, S. A. Teukolsky, W. T. Vetterling and B. P. Flannery, Third Edition, Cambridge University Press, New York (2007).
Black Holes, White Dwarfs, and Neutron Stars: The Physics of Compact Objects, S. L. Shapiro and S. A. Teukolsky, John Wiley, New York (1983). Russian Edition: MIR Publishers, Moscow (1986).
In the news
- Hubble Fellow chooses Cornell for postdoc
- Hawking’s black hole theorem observationally confirmed
- Physicist Teukolsky wins biennial Einstein Prize
- New method predicts which black holes escape their galaxies
- Lawrence Kidder elected fellow of American Physical Society
- Teukolsky to explore the Dark Universe in Spring Hans Bethe Lecture