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Weixiang Yu

Weixiang Yu — Postdoctoral Scholar — Postdoc
Office: 520 Davey Laboratory
Address: 520 Davey Laboratory
wuy10@psu.edu
Weixiang Yu
Astronomy LSST Astroinformatics Astrostatistics Black Holes Cosmic Surveys Gravitational Waves Multimessenger Astrophysics Neutrinos Dynamic Universe RubinEra

Dr. Weixiang Yu's research focuses on time-domain astronomy, active galactic nuclei (AGN), and the growth and evolution of supermassive black holes. He is particularly interested in understanding the physical processes governing black hole accretion through multi-wavelength variability studies and identifying observational signatures of supermassive black hole binaries and nuclear transients.

His work combines large-scale astronomical surveys with advanced statistical and computational techniques, including stochastic time-series modeling and machine learning. Looking ahead, he aims to leverage next-generation datasets from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) and the Euclid mission to investigate AGN variability, discover rare and unusual nuclear phenomena, and improve our understanding of black hole growth and evolution across cosmic time.

Visit my website

ORCID: 0000-0003-1262-2897

Publications
  1. Weixiang {Yu}, John {Ruan}, Colin {Burke}, Roberto {Assef}, Tonima {Ananna}, Franz {Bauer}, Demetra {De Cicco}, Keith {Horne}, Lorena {Hern{\'a}ndez-Garc{\'\i}a}, Dragana {Ili{\'c}}, Vivek {Jha}, Andjelka {Kova{\v{c}}evi{\'c}}, Marcin {Marculewicz}, Swayamtrupta {Panda}, Claudio {Ricci}, Gordon {Richards}, Rogemar {Riffel}, Donald {Schneider}, Paula {S{\'a}nchez-S{\'a}ez}, Sarath {Satheesh-Sheeba}, Francesco {Tombesi}, Matthew {Temple}, Michael {Vogeley}, Ilsang {Yoon}, Fan {Zou} “{Scalable and Robust Multiband Modeling of AGN Light Curves in Rubin-LSST}.” \apj 998 1 (2026) doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ae28d3
  2. Weixiang {Yu}, Gordon {Richards}, John {Ruan}, Michael {Vogeley}, Franz {Bauer}, Matthew {Graham} “{Examining Active Galactic Nucleus UV/Optical Variability beyond the Simple Damped Random Walk. II. Insights from 22 yr Observations of SDSS, PS1, and ZTF}.” \apj 992 1 (2025) doi:10.3847/1538-4357/adfdd2
  3. {\DJ}or{\dj}e {Savi{\'c}}, Isidora {Jankov}, Weixiang {Yu}, Vincenzo {Petrecca}, Matthew {Temple}, Qingling {Ni}, Raphael {Shirley}, Andjelka {Kova{\v{c}}evi{\'c}}, Mladen {Nikoli{\'c}}, Dragana {Ili{\'c}}, Luka {Popovi{\'c}}, Maurizio {Paolillo}, Swayamtrupta {Panda}, Aleksandra {{\'C}iprijanovi{\'c}}, Gordon {Richards} “{The LSST AGN Data Challenge: Selection Methods}.” \apj 953 2 (2023) doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ace31a
  4. Weixiang {Yu}, Gordon {Richards}, Michael {Vogeley}, Jackeline {Moreno}, Matthew {Graham} “{Examining AGN UV/Optical Variability beyond the Simple Damped Random Walk}.” \apj 936 2 (2022) doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac8351
About our wordmark
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.