Ph.D. Theses

87 theses by IGC students.

2019 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Henry S. Grasshorn Gebhardt	Donghui Jeong	In pursuit of optimal clustering analysis with emission line surveys ETD
Shintaro Nishikawa	Nigel Higson	Direct splitting method for the Baum-Connes conjecture and groups acting on CAT(0)-cubical spaces ETD
Angel Roman	Nigel Higson	Mackey bijection for some reductive groups and continuous fields of reduced C-algebras* ETD
Matthew Rosenberg	Miguel Mostafa	A Search for Very High Energy Photons from Gamma-Ray Bursts with the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory ETD
Monica Seglar-Arroyo	Miguel Mostafa	Searching for the origin of extragalactic cosmic rays: Multi-messenger studies with VHE gamma-ray instruments ETD
Guang Yang	Neil Brandt	What drives the growth of black holes? ETD

2018 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Bekir Baytas	Sarah Shandera	Correlations in Quantum Gravity and Cosmology ETD
Anne-Sylvie Deutsch	Sarah Shandera	Cosmic Variance in Cosmology: From Inflation to Today’s Largest Scales ETD
Lucas Hackl	Eugenio Bianchi	Aspects of Gaussian States: Entanglement, Squeezing and Complexity ETD
Moupiya Maji	Yuexing Li	Illuminating the Star Clusters and Dwarf Galaxies by Multi-scale Baryonic Simulations ETD

2017 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Beatrice Bonga	Abhay Ashtekar	Gravitational Radiation with a Positive Cosmological Constant ETD
Joanna Bridge	Caryl Gronwall	Using Emission Lines to Characterize Galaxy Properties: From the Nearby to the Distant Universe ETD
Umut Buyukcam	Martin Bojowald	Application of Canonical Effective Methods to Background-Independent Theories ETD
Alex Hagen	Robin Ciardullo	A Study in Lyman-alpha ETD
Lea Hagen	Caryl Gronwall	Swift/UVOT Observations in Star Formation and Dust Attenuation in both Local and High Redshift Galaxies ETD
Nicholas Senno	Peter Meszaros	Towards an Understanding of the Source of Very-High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos ETD

2016 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Saroj Adhikari	Sarah Shandera	Effects of Primordial non-Gaussianity in the CMB and the Large Scale Structure ETD
Aruna Kesavan	Abhay Ashtekar	Asymptotic Structure of Space-Time with a Positive Cosmological Constant ETD
Ehssan Khanmohammadi	Nigel Higson	Quantization of Coadjoint Orbits via Positivity of Kirillov’s Character Formula ETD
Qirong Zhu	Yuexing Li	Formation of Disk Galaxies in CDM Using Particle-Based Hydrodynamics ETD

2015 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Pichkitti Bannangkoon	Nigel Higson	C-algebras in Kirillov Theory* ETD
Suddhasattwa Brahma	Martin Bojowald	Effective Methods for Quantum Theories ETD
Matthew Dunkman	Tyce DeYoung	Measurement of Atmospheric Muon Neutrino Disappearance with IceCube-DeepCore ETD
Karan Govil	Murat Gunaydin	Algebraic Aspects of Higher Spin Symmetry ETD
David Hollander	Irina Mocioiu	Flavor Oscillations with Sterile Neutrinos and In Dense Neutrino Environments ETD
Elliot Nelson	Sarah Shandera	Non-gaussian Statistics as a Probe of the Early Universe ETD
Guangzhong Peng	Nigel Higson	Quantization of Affine Coadjoint Orbits ETD
Kathryn Sparks Woodle	Tyce DeYoung	A Likelihood Search for Very High-Energy Gamma-Ray Bursts with the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory ETD
Mouyuan Sun
Warren Wright	Irina Mocioiu	The Phenomenology of Non-standard Neutrino Interactions at Large Neutrino Detectors ETD

2014 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Olaf Engelund	Radu Roiban	New Applications of On-Shell Methods in Quantum Field Theory ETD
Shan Gao	Peter Meszaros	High Energy Neutrinos from Gamma-ray Bursts: Recent Observations and Models ETD
Qingjun Jin	Radu Roiban	Conformal Deformations of N=4 Sym ETD

2013 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Tyler Anderson	Stephane Coutu	Exploring the Cosmic Ray Spectrum with the CREAM Experiment ETD
Shih-ho Cheng	Paul Sommers	A Search for Ultra-High Energy Neutron Point Sources with the AUGER Surface Detector ETD
Ryan McKeown	Radu Roiban	Perturbative and Non-Perturbative Approaches to the Quantum Ads5xs5 Superstring ETD
George Paily	Martin Bojowald	Deformed General Relativity and Effective Actions in Quantum Gravity ETD
David Simpson	Martin Bojowald	Effective Equations of Cosmological Models in (loop) Quantum Gravity ETD
Casey Tomlin	Martin Bojowald	The Quantum Constraint Algebra in Toy Models of Canonical Gravity ETD

2012 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Miguel Campiglia	Abhay Ashtekar	Topics in Black Holes and Quantum Cosmology PDF
Adrienne Criss	Paul Sommers	Atmospheric Effects on Events Measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory Surface Detector ETD

2011 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Gerardo Giordano	Irina Mocioiu	Neutrino Flavor Oscillations in the IceCube DeepCore Array ETD
Adam Henderson	Abhay Ashtekar	Loop Quantum Cosmology: A Window into the Path Integral Representation of Quanum Gravity ETD
Nathan Johnson-McDaniel	Ben Owen	Gravitational Waves and the Deformation of Compact Objects: Topics in Relativistic Astrophysics ETD
Douglas Rutledge	Doug Cowen	A Search for Neutrino-Induced Electromagnetic Showers in the 2008 Combined IceCube and AMANDA Detectors ETD
Artur Tsobanjan	Martin Bojowald	Semiclassical Analysis of Quantum Systems with Constraints ETD
Edward Wilson-Ewing	Abhay Ashtekar	Loop Quantum Cosmology: Anisotropies and Inhomogeneities ETD

2010 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
David Sloan	Abhay Ashtekar	Loop Quantum Cosmology and the Early Universe ETD
Deepak Vaid	Stephon Alexander	The Cosmological Constant Problem and Many Body Physics: An Investigation ETD

2009 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Tanja Bode	Deirdre Shoemaker	The Robustness of Binary Black Hole Mergers and Waveforms ETD
Jim Healy	Pablo Laguna	The Final State from Generic Binary Black Hole Coalescence: Mass, Spin and Gravitational Recoil ETD
Juan Reyes	Martin Bojowald	Spherically Symmetric Loop Quantum Gravity: Connections to Two-Dimensional Models and Applications to Gravitational Collapse ETD
Victor Taveras	Abhay Ashtekar	Loop Gravity: An Application and an Extension ETD
Shaun Wood	Pablo Laguna	Curvature Scalar Diagnostics and Progress on a Chern-Simons Initial Value Formulation ETD

2008 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Eloisa Bentivegna	Deirdre Shoemaker	Ringing in Unison: Exploring Black Hole Coalescence with Quasinormal Modes ETD
Mikhail Kagan	Martin Bojowald	Quantum Cosmology and Structure Formation in the Universe ETD
Birjoo Vaishnav	Deirdre Shoemaker	Gravitational Waves from Intermediate Mass Binary Black Holes: First Steps Toward Using Numerical Relativity Waveforms for LIGO Data Analysis ETD
Nicolas Yunes	Ben Owen	At The Interface: Gravitational Waves as Tools to Test Quantum Gravity and Probe the Astrophysical Universe ETD

2007 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Abraham Harte	Pablo Laguna	Mechanics of Isolated Extended Bodies in Classical Field Theories ETD
Mohit Nayyar	Ben Owen	Periodic Gravitational Radiation from Neutron Stars with Exotic Matter ETD

2006 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Jonathan Engle	Abhay Ashtekar	Black Hole Entropy, Constraints, and Symmetry in Quantum Gravity , ETD
Amber Stuver	Sam Finn	Burst Gravitational Wave Data Analysis Methods: Design, Development and Comparison ETD
Tiffany Summerscales	Sam Finn	Gravitational Wave Astronomy with LIGO: From Data to Science ETD
Kevin Vandersloot	Abhay Ashtekar	Loop Quantum Cosmology , ETD
David Whitbeck	Ben Owen	Observational Consequences of Gravitational Wave Emission from Spinning Compact Sources ETD

2005 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Chris Van Den Broeck	Abhay Ashtekar	Black Holes and Neutron Stars: Fundamental and Phenomenological Issues , ETD

2004 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Josh Willis	Abhay Ashtekar	On the Low-Energy Ramifications and a Mathematical Extension of Loop Quantum Gravity , ETD
Bernard Kelly	Pablo Laguna	The Next Generation of Binary Black Hole Head-On Collisions, and their Aftermath , ETD
Kenneth Smith	Pablo Laguna	Dynamic Singularity Excision in Numerical Relativity , ETD

2002 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
David Garrison	Jorge Pullin, Pablo Laguna	Testing Binary Black Hole Codes in Strong Field Regimes , ETD
Badri Krishnan	Abhay Ashtekar	Isolated Horizons in Numerical Relativity , ETD
Yi Ling	Lee Smolin	Extending Loop Quantum Gravity to Supergravity
Jacek Wisniewski	Abhay Ashtekar	2+1 General Relativity: Classical and Quantum , ETD

2001 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Ramon Lopez-Aleman	Jorge Pullin	Evolving Particle Trajectories Perturbatively around Rotating Black Holes in the Time Domain , ETD
Stephen Fairhurst	Abhay Ashtekar	Isolated horizons and distorted black holes , , ETD
Olaf Dreyer	Abhay Ashtekar	Isolated Horizons and Black Hole Entropy , , ETD

2000 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Chris Beetle	Abhay Ashtekar	Isolated Horizons and Black Hole Mechanics ,
Dan Cartin	Lee Smolin	Self-regulated Models of Str Formation in Flocculent Galaxies ,
Sameer Gupta	Lee Smolin	not available
Gaurav Khanna	Jorge Pullin	Black Hole Coalescence: the Close Limit ,

1999 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Kirill Krasnov	Abhay Ashtekar	,
Eli Hawkins	Lee Smolin	Perturbative Noncommutative Regularization ETD

1997 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Alejandro Corichi	Abhay Ashtekar	Interplay Between Topology, Gauge Fields And Gravity ,
Seth Major	Lee Smolin	q-Quantum Gravity ,
Nuno Dias	Jorge Pullin	The Dynamics Of Quantum Gravity: A Proposal

1996 Theses

Ph.D. Student	Adviser	Title
Monica Pierri	Abhay Ashtekar	Probing Quantum General Relativity Through Exactly Soluble Midi-Superspaces
Troy Schilling	Abhay Ashtekar	Geometry Of Quantum Mechanics ,

Monica Rincon Ramirez

The IGC wordmark was created by Monica Rincon Ramirez while she was a graduate student at the Institute. Monica enjoys drawing new connections between fundamental theory and observations. Her graduate work included general relativity, loop quantum gravity, and quantum fields in cosmological backgrounds; her thesis focused on effective quantum corrections to gravitational phenomena from spinfoams and applications to cosmology. She received her PhD in 2024.

The wordmark symbolizes the scope of research at the IGC. The base represents quantum gravity, evoking the quantum geometrical picture from spinfoams and loop quantum gravity — approaches studied at the Center for Fundamental Theory. The middle shows galaxies embedded in a smooth surface characteristic of spacetime in general relativity and the larger physical scales studied at the Center for Theoretical and Observational Cosmology. The top curves to an extreme representing a supermassive black hole accompanied by an energetic jet, with a binary black hole pair nearby — the high-energy phenomena studied at the Center for Multimessenger Astrophysics.