About
BS, UMBC | Advisors: Kayhan Gültekin, Mateusz Ruszkowski
Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
Kevin Whitley studies binary supermassive black hole systems. Using numerical simulations, he aims to develop methods of identifying these systems from their electromagnetic emission. With the FARGO3D hydrodynamics code, Whitley is producing simulations of close-separation SMBH binaries to look for periodic emission characteristic to the separation and mass ratio of the binary. These results can then be used to guide follow-up observations of binary candidates for which these parameters have been estimated, allowing for confident identification of close SMBH binaries. Detections of such systems would provide undeniable evidence that Nature has resolved the "Final Parsec Problem" and strongly imply the occurrence of SMBH mergers, which are expected to play a significant role in black hole and galaxy evolution.
Additional Interests
High-energy astronomy, black hole evolution, AGN, gravitational waves, relativistic jets
Publications
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