My research

Changing-look AGN

AGN are typically classified based on their spectra. Type 1 AGN have broad lines in their spectra, while Type 2 AGN do not. Most AGN unification theories attribute these types to the orientation of the AGN system relative to the viewer.

Changing-look AGN are AGN which gain or lose broad-line emission over timescales of months or years. We still don't know what causes this behavior, but popular theories include changes in the fuel available to the AGN, instabilities in the accretion disk, or transient events like the tidal disruption of stars.

Students

Tanay Agrawal (Spring 2023-Present), Ashi Poorey (Fall 2026-Present)

Post-starburst galaxies

Galaxies in the local Universe can be broadly divided into star-forming spiral galaxies and quiescent/quenched (non-star-forming) elliptical galaxies. Galaxies must evolve from star-forming to quiescent by 'quenching,' or shutting down, their star formation. Most quiescent galaxies in the local Universe quenched slowly over billions of years, while quiescent galaxies in the early Universe (which had less time to shut down star formation) did so rapidly. To understand these early-Universe rapid quenching mechanisms, we can study so-called 'post-starburst galaxies,' or galaxies which experienced a burst of star formation followed by rapid quenching, in the local Universe.

Students

Tanay Agrawal (Spring 2023-Present), Jonah Miller (Summer 2026-Present), Aayan Verma (Fall 2025-Spring 2026)