Research
My research focuses on how stars form in the turbulent, magnetized interstellar medium. Star-forming clouds are shaped by supersonic motions, shocks, gravity, and magnetic fields, producing a rich network of filaments and dense cores. Understanding how these structures arise and how they feed forming stars requires linking physics across a huge range of scales, from parsec-sized clouds down to the immediate environment of protostars.
A central goal is to explain what sets the distribution of stellar masses (the initial mass function), including the formation of massive stars. I combine analytical ideas with large-scale numerical simulations of supersonic (often MHD) turbulence and self-gravitating gas, and I compare simulation outputs to observations through synthetic observations and statistical diagnostics.
Star Formation
The origin of stars is a fundamental problem of astrophysics. Stars are formed in cold interstellar clouds by the interaction of gravity, magnetic fields, and turbulence. A goal of my research is to explain the origin of their mass and formation rate.
ISM Turbulence
Because star-forming gas is highly turbulent, the study of star formation involves the study of turbulence as well. I carry out supercomputer simulations of supersonic, self-gravitating, magnetized turbulence to model observed star-forming regions.
Planet Formation
Observational evidence shows planet formation occurs rapidly during the earliest phases of circumstellar disk evolution. My research focuses on the study of these early phases of disk evolution, as they define the initial conditions for planet formation.