In a study led by Gene Leung and published in Nature Astronomy we traced a quasar's flickering light back to just 850 million years after the Big Bang, finding its accretion disk resembles those of modern-day quasars. MIT press release.
A JWST survey of 27 quasars from a billion years after the Big Bang found six with exceptionally fast galaxy-scale winds — likely the "smoking gun" behind quenching. Work led by Weizhe Liu and published in Nature. Press release.
Honored to receive a Committed to Caring award — a student-driven initiative celebrating faculty who are exceptional mentors to graduate students. MIT news article.
Congratulations to my first graduate student, Dominika, on a fantastic PhD defense presenting beautiful work on black holes at the largest (and smallest) scales.
Honored to have been named a 2026 Sloan Research Fellow by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, one of eight MIT faculty among the 126 fellows selected this year. MIT press release.
A study led by graduate student Dominika Ďurovčíková measures quasar lifetimes from extended Lyman-alpha nebulae with JWST, finding no signs of substantial obscured growth phases. AAS Nova summary.
First study of tidal disruption events hidden in dust-obscured galaxy centers with JWST, led by Megan Masterson. Press release.
Using EIGER/JWST observations we measured the host dark matter halo mass and duty cycle of ancient quasars for the first time. MIT press release.
A paper led by Roberto Decarli analyzes a merger of a quasar with two massive galaxies in the early universe using JWST NIRSpec IFU data. Press release.
A study led by Minghao Yue analyzes stellar masses of galaxies hosting luminous quasars observed with JWST as part of EIGER. Press release.
Using Gaia data, we assembled the largest collection of quasars in space and time, led by Kate Storey-Fisher. ESA press release.
A paper led by MIT graduate student Xiaowei Ou measures the Milky Way's rotation curve using Gaia data, finding outskirt stars travel slower than expected. Press release.
Physics World named our EIGER collaboration work deciphering early-universe physics with JWST one of the Top 10 Breakthroughs in Physics of 2023.
JWST revealed an abundant population of "little red dots" — likely small, dusty, actively growing black holes. Quanta Magazine article.
First results from the ASPIRE survey revealed a high-redshift quasar embedded in filaments of the cosmic web, led by Feige Wang and Jinyi Yang. NASA press release.
Work led by Xuheng Ding, published in Nature, discovered the long sought-after stellar light of quasar host galaxies in the early universe. Press release.
Welcomed more than 150 astronomers to MIT to present the first results on the early universe with JWST. MIT News coverage.
First papers using JWST NIRCam grism data analyze galaxies responsible for the Epoch of Reionization and the most luminous known high-redshift quasar. STScI press release.
Published in Nature by lead author Kishalay De: the first discovery of a star swallowing a planet, found in NASA's NEOWISE survey data. Press release.
A paper led by Christos Panagiotou reports a dust-obscured tidal disruption event — a star torn apart by a dormant supermassive black hole, only 137 million light years away. Press release.
Work led by Sarah Bosman determined that the Reionization Epoch ended about 1.1 billion years after the Big Bang, later than previously thought. Press release.
A letter led by Manuela Bischetti, published in Nature, found ubiquitous highly energetic winds driven by early quasars that slow black hole growth. News article.
Work led by Feige Wang discovered the most distant quasar known to date, at redshift z=7.64, only 670 million years after the Big Bang. Press release.
A study led by Emanuele Farina found large reservoirs of cold gas surrounding many high-redshift quasars, providing fuel for rapid black hole growth. ESO press release.
A study measured the Milky Way's circular velocity curve to unprecedented precision using red giant stars, finding a gentle, smooth decline. News article.
A new method to analyze quasar lifetimes reveals a population of very young quasars with lifetimes of 10,000 years or less. Press release.