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Black Hole

Lensing of space time around a black hole. At Oxford we study black holes observationally and theoretically on all size and time scales - it is some of our core work.

Credit: ALAIN RIAZUELO, IAP/UPMC/CNRS. CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES.

Dr Lauren Rhodes

TSI Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Research theme

  • Astronomy and astrophysics

Sub department

  • Astrophysics

Research groups

  • MeerKAT
  • Pulsars, transients and relativistic astrophysics
  • The Square Kilometre Array (SKA)
  • Gamma-ray astronomy
lauren.rhodes@physics.ox.ac.uk
laurenrhodes.github.io
  • About
  • Publications

Blast waves and reverse shocks: from ultra-relativistic GRBs to moderately relativistic X-ray binaries

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press 539:3 (2025) 2665-2684

Authors:

James H Matthews, Alex J Cooper, Lauren Rhodes, Katherine Savard, Rob Fender, Francesco Carotenuto, Fraser J Cowie, Emma L Elley, Joe Bright, Andrew K Hughes, Sara E Motta

Abstract:

Blast wave models are commonly used to model relativistic outflows from ultra-relativistic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), but are also applied to lower Lorentz factor ejections from X-ray binaries (XRBs). Here, we revisit the physics of blast waves and reverse shocks in these systems and explore the similarities and differences between the ultra-relativistic () and moderately relativistic () regimes. We first demonstrate that the evolution of the blast wave radius as a function of the observer frame time is recovered in the on-axis ultra-relativistic limit from a general energy and radius blast wave evolution, emphasizing that XRB ejections are off-axis, moderately relativistic cousins of GRB afterglows. We show that, for fixed blast wave or ejecta energy, reverse shocks cross the ejecta much later (earlier) on in the evolution for less (more) relativistic systems, and find that reverse shocks are much longer lived in XRBs and off-axis GRBs compared to on-axis GRBs. Reverse shock crossing should thus typically finish after 10–100 of days (in the observer frame) in XRB ejections. This characteristic, together with their moderate Lorentz factors and resolvable core separations, makes XRB ejections unique laboratories for shock and particle acceleration physics. We discuss the impact of geometry and lateral spreading on our results, explore how to distinguish between different shock components, and comment on the implications for GRB and XRB environments. Additionally, we argue that identification of reverse shock signatures in XRBs could provide an independent constraint on the ejecta Lorentz factor.
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The Long-lived Broadband Afterglow of Short Gamma-Ray Burst 231117A and the Growing Radio-detected Short Gamma-Ray Burst Population

The Astrophysical Journal American Astronomical Society 982:1 (2025) 42

Authors:

Genevieve Schroeder, Wen-fai Fong, Charles D Kilpatrick, Alicia Rouco Escorial, Tanmoy Laskar, Anya E Nugent, Jillian Rastinejad, Kate D Alexander, Edo Berger, Thomas G Brink, Ryan Chornock, Clecio R de Bom, Yuxin Dong, Tarraneh Eftekhari, Alexei V Filippenko, Celeste Fuentes-Carvajal, Wynn V Jacobson-Galán, Matthew Malkan, Raffaella Margutti, Jeniveve Pearson, Lauren Rhodes, Ricardo Salinas, David J Sand, Luidhy Santana-Silva, Andre Santos, Huei Sears, Manisha Shrestha, Nathan Smith, Wayne Webb, Simon de Wet, Yi Yang
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The Radio Counterpart to the Fast X-Ray Transient EP240414a

The Astrophysical Journal American Astronomical Society 981:1 (2025) 48

Authors:

Joe S Bright, Francesco Carotenuto, Rob Fender, Carmen Choza, Andrew Mummery, Peter G Jonker, Stephen J Smartt, David R DeBoer, Wael Farah, James Matthews, Alexander W Pollak, Lauren Rhodes, Andrew Siemion
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Multiwavelength analysis of AT 2023sva: a luminous orphan afterglow with evidence for a structured jet

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) 538:1 (2025) 351-372

Authors:

Gokul P Srinivasaragavan, Daniel A Perley, Anna YQ Ho, Brendan O’Connor, Antonio de Ugarte Postigo, Nikhil Sarin, S Bradley Cenko, Jesper Sollerman, Lauren Rhodes, David A Green, Dmitry S Svinkin, Varun Bhalerao, Gaurav Waratkar, AJ Nayana, Poonam Chandra, M Coleman Miller, Daniele B Malesani, Geoffrey Ryan, Suryansh Srijan, Eric C Bellm, Eric Burns, David J Titterington, Maria B Stone, Josiah Purdum, Tomás Ahumada, GC Anupama, Sudhanshu Barway, Michael W Coughlin, Andrew Drake, Rob Fender, José F Agüí Fernández, Dmitry D Frederiks, Stefan Geier, Matthew J Graham, Mansi M Kasliwal, SR Kulkarni, Harsh Kumar, Maggie L Li, Russ R Laher, Alexandra L Lysenko, Gopal Parwani, Richard A Perley, Anna V Ridnaia, Anirudh Salgundi, Roger Smith, Niharika Sravan, Vishwajeet Swain, Christina C Thöne, Anastasia E Tsvetkova, Mikhail V Ulanov, Jada Vail, Jacob L Wise, Avery Wold
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Radio observations of the ultra-long GRB 220627A reveal a hot cocoon supporting the blue supergiant progenitor scenario

ArXiv 2502.13435 (2025)

Authors:

James K Leung, Om Sharan Salafia, Cristiana Spingola, Giancarlo Ghirlanda, Stefano Giarratana, Marcello Giroletti, Cormac Reynolds, Ziteng Wang, Tao An, Adam Deller, Maria R Drout, David L Kaplan, Emil Lenc, Tara Murphy, Miguel Perez-Torres, Lauren Rhodes
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