affiliations
Center for Relativistic Astrophysics
Georgia Institute of Technology
adjunct
Computational Science & Engineering, GaTech
Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, PSU
contact
office: 1-63 Boggs
phone: 1-404-385-3907
fax: 1-404-894-9958
email: plaguna at gatech dot edu
mail
837 State St.
School of Physics
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta GA 30332-0430
Supercomputer technology has changed dramatically the landscape of General Relativity. Numerical Relativity, namely the formulation of Einstein field equations in a way amenable to numerical analysis, has emerged as a field of its own and as a tool of astronomical discovery. I am a numerical relativist studying astrophysical phenomena where general relativistic effects play a fundamental role. Currently, the primary focus of my research is the numerical simulation of the compact object binaries involving black holes and neutron stars. These collisions not only expose the complex, non-linear nature of Einstein's field equations, but it will also bring General Relativity much closer in harmony with the observations of gravitational radiation expected to take place in the near future.
2008 Director, Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, Georgia Tech
2008 Professor, School of Physics, Georgia Tech
2008 Adjunct Professor, Computational Science and Engineering Division, Georgia Tech
2001 - 2008 Associate Director, Center for Gravitational Wave Physics, Penn State
2001 - 2006 Associate Director, Institute for Gravitational Physics & Geometry, Penn State
2000 - 2008 Professor, Depts. of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physics, Penn State
1998 - 2000 Assoc. Professor, Dept. of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Penn State
1992 - 1998 Assist. Professor, Dept. of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Penn State
1990 - 1992 Postdoc, Theoretical Astrophysics Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory
1989 - 1990 Postdoc, Physics Department, Drexel University
1987 - 1989 Postdoc, Center for Relativity, University of Texas at Austin
1982 - 1987 Ph.D., Physics, University of Texas at Austin
1977 - 1981 B.Sc., Physics, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Mexico
