Theoretical Astrophysics Group

Mission

Astrophysics is a field in astronomy that investigates the physical and chemical properties and structures of astronomical objects, interstellar and intergalactic medium, and spacetime. Computational astrophysics covers all the computational methods and tools developed for astrophysical studies. It provides theoretical astronomy with unique opportunities for experiments by simulations, and it also provides observational astronomy with tools, predictions, and analysis methods. Consequently, the mission of computational astrophysics is to act as a bridge between basic theory and observations from KASI and worldwide telescopes.

Current Research

• To study various aspects of turbulence and dissipation in the cosmic large-scale plasma through high-resolution simulations
• To constrain the conditions of the Early Universe with accurate self-consistent models of Galactic dust emission and polarization
• To understand fundamental mechanisms of Galactic microwave emission and dust polarization and create synthetic forward models that can be compared directly with observations
• To understand how compact binaries are formed and evolved in various environments
• To study the best waveform to measure properties of heavenly bodies via gravitational waves
• To calculate the Lyα line profiles using Monte Carlo radiative transfer methods in order to understand the properties of star-forming galaxies in the early universe
• To understand how the strahl component is formed in the solar wind electron velocity distributions