Contact - Email: xinliu AT astro.ucla.edu
3-337 PAB; Phone: (310) 267-4044
Appointment - Hubble Fellow (2012 - present), UCLA
Einstein Fellow (2010 - 2012), Harvard U.
Education - Ph.D. (Astrophysics, 2010), Princeton U.
B.S. (Physics, 2004), Tsinghua U.
Research
Black holes and their astrophysical significance have been the focus of my recent research. In particular, black holes with millions to billions of solar masses seem to prevail at the centers of present-day galaxies. How were they formed? Do they affect their surroundings? What happens when their host galaxies collide? Can they pair close enough to coalesce? Were they being ``kicked'' out of galaxies? Addressing these questions will advance knowledge in a variety of frontier topics in astrophysics, central to both Cosmic Origins and Physics of the Cosmos sciences.