Research

I study physical processes for accretion & ejection of matter (termed inflows & outflows) from compact objects (namely, from such systems as XRBs, CVs, & AGN).  Inflows and outflows are ubiquitous in astrophysics.  Relevant areas, simply judging from the categories listed on Scholarpedia, include cosmology, extragalactic astronomy, stellar astrophysics, and solar & planetary physics. 

An essential skill in this line of work is the ability to correctly solve equations numerically; this is its own field: computational astrophysics.  The equations that I attempt to solve are the Euler equations of gas dynamics and the equations of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD, see also here), either set of which form a coupled system of non-linear, partial differential equations.  For some specific applications showing the great diversity and complexity of the solutions of these equations, found via simulations, see here.  

Publications:

Waters & Proga 2012, Parker Winds Revisited: An Extension to Disc Winds, Submitted to MNRAS.  Relevant background: Parker winds on Scholarpedia, authored by Parker himself. 


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