Hi! I’m Matt, an undergraduate student at Haverford College pursuing a degree in Astronomy and Physics, particularly interested in computational astrophysics. This website shares my research, my involvement in public observing, my experiences playing ultimate frisbee, and some of the other interests and projects I pursue along the way. Thanks for stopping by!
Education: Haverford College, class of 2028
Research Interests: Galaxies, Black Holes
Select a project to read more about the research.
Modeling global HI profiles from galaxy rotation curves and radial surface-density distributions.
View Project → Northwestern University CIERAInvestigating how misaligned angular momentum may contribute to the transition from MAD to RAD.
View Project →HI global profiles, which measure integrated 21 cm emission as a function of line-of-sight velocity, contain information about both a galaxy’s rotation curve and its HI surface-density distribution. In this project, we developed a physical model of the global HI profile by combining rotation curves derived from MaNGA observations with modeled radial HI surface-density distributions. We investigated how variations in the central HI distribution affect the resulting profile and compared our modeled profiles with observations from the HI-MaNGA survey. The model successfully reproduced the overall profile shapes and flux ranges of the observed galaxies.
Relativistic jets launched by accreting black holes can reshape both the ambient medium and the accretion flow, but the mechanisms responsible for transitions from the magnetically arrested disk (MAD) to rocking accretion disk (RAD) remain uncertain. We investigate, under the scope of angular momentum misaligned with the black-hole spin, structures that could contribute to this evolution. Using data from a 3D general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (3D GRMHD) simulation of a rapidly spinning black hole, we derive the radial angular-momentum fluxes about the Cartesian axes and analyze the magnitude of the y-direction angular momentum flux, L_y, across 1375 simulation outputs. We compare angular-momentum flux and density maps during the pre-MAD, MAD, and RAD states. After the flow enters MAD, wave-like disturbances appear near the central jet-launching region and propagate outward through the ambient medium. Angular-momentum structures also show a spatial correspondence with the low-density filaments associated with magnetic-flux eruptions. However, the visual analysis does not establish whether the jets, flux eruptions, or both generate and transport the misaligned angular momentum. Measuring the propagation properties of the disturbances and calculating angular-momentum profiles for the magnetic-flux-eruption filaments will be necessary to determine which processes contribute to the transition out of MAD and the subsequent disruption of the jets.
Y-direction angular-momentum flux and density from the 3D GRMHD simulation.
Select an activity to learn more.
I am part of the Strawbridge Observatory Public Observing Team. More details about public observing will be added here soon.
I play ultimate frisbee with Big Donkey Ultimate. I will use this page to share more about the team and my experiences playing ultimate.
Email: mtie@haverford.edu
Address: 370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA, 19041
