Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos | Alireza Rashti

Alireza Rashti - Postdoctoral Scholar - Postdoc

Office: 314 Whitmore Laboratory

Address: 104 Davey Lab University Park, PA 16802 US

Email: akr6170@psu.edu

Phone: +1 814 863 9605

I am a postdoc scholar in the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, here, at the Pennsylvania State University. My research focuses on the dynamical evolution of astrophysical compact objects in events where black holes and neutron stars coalesce. In these cataclysmic events, the governing equations of gravity and matter are in a highly nonlinear regime. Therefore, to solve the equations and understand the underlying physics of these phenomena, numerical methods are required. As such, I devise and develop numerical relativity infrastructures, for CPU and GPU high-performance clusters, to create initial data as well as dynamical evolutions of these gravitational systems. For numerical relativity projects and problems, I am looking forward to being reached at akr6170 at psu.

Click here to view my website

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

The wordmark symbolizes the scope and variety of research at the IGC. The base of the image represents quantum gravity, evoking the quantum geometrical picture from spinfoams and loop quantum gravity. These are among the approaches to fundamental questions studied at the Center for Fundamental Theory. The middle of the image represents the Center for Theoretical and Observational Cosmology by galaxies embedded in a smooth surface, characteristic of spacetime in general relativity and the much larger physical scales studied in cosmology. Finally, at the top, the surface curves to an extreme, representing a supermassive black hole accompanied by an energetic jet. These elements depict an active galactic nucleus, inspired by Centaurus A. Just to the right, a pair of black holes approaches merger. This top portion of the wordmark represents the Center for Multimessenger Astrophysics, which specializes in the study of high-energy phenomena in the universe.