Research

Our primary research interests are in the timing variability of accreting black holes and neutron stars using data from instruments onboard satellites such as the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, Swift, Kepler, and TESS in combination with ground-based optical observatories for spectroscopic follow-up. We are also currently developing methods that accommodate unevenly sampled time series to study optical timing data from the Zwicky Transient Facility of unique compact binary systems in preparation for the era of big data astronomy with the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Spac and Time (LSST). The goal is to understand the fundamentals of accretion physics and how various aspects of the accretion flow modulate emission over time. We employ methods from nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory for comparison to traditional Fourier-based techniques and Bayesian statistics as a means to create a new and complementary classification of transient and variable astrophysical systems. Side projects include developing radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of the accretion disks around black holes and exploring interdisciplinary applications of novel time series analysis methods.