Theoretical Astrophysics (TA)

The TA Division uses theoretical models and computer simulations to understand a variety of fundamental astrophysical phenomena such as: the formation and dynamics of planets in the solar system and around other stars, the physics of accretion flows and jets around black holes and neutron stars, the role of supermassive black holes in galaxy formation, the growth of the first stars and galaxy halos, the cosmic microwave background and ionization history of the universe, the nature of dark matter and dark energy, and the properties of the primordial seeds responsible for the growth of structure in the universe. The Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC) resides in the TA Division. One of the primary objectives of the ITC is to integrate conceptual theory with computational modeling.