Skip to main content
Home
Department Of Physics text logo
  • Research
    • Our research
    • Our research groups
    • Our research in action
    • Research funding support
    • Summer internships for undergraduates
  • Study
    • Undergraduates
    • Postgraduates
  • Engage
    • For alumni
    • For business
    • For schools
    • For the public
Menu
An illustration of a black hole binary within an AGN disk

An illustration of the scenario in which two black holes merge in an AGN disk. The black holes experience a drag force due to the disk gas, hardening the binary and causing them to merge on shorter timescales.

Credit: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

Henry Whitehead

Grad Student

Research theme

  • Astronomy and astrophysics

Sub department

  • Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics

Research groups

  • Pulsars, transients and relativistic astrophysics
  • Theoretical astrophysics and plasma physics at RPC
henry.whitehead@physics.ox.ac.uk
  • About

About Me

My research focusses on the behaviour of compact objects within the centres of galaxies, where the presence of a gaseous disk around the central supermassive black hole is expected to increase the formation rate of, and subsequently harden, stellar mass black hole binaries. As these binaries merge, they produce gravitational waves that we may be able to detect. I conduct this research from a primarily computational viewpoint, investigating the hydrodynamics of such systems using the code AREPO. 

I am currently in the first year of study for my DPhil at Oxford with the support of my supervisor Prof. Bence Kocsis. Before this I completed my Master's in Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, where I wrote my thesis on the simulated hydrodynamics of AGN jets with flickering power under the supervision of Dr James Matthews. 

Research interests

Black Holes, AGN, Accretion

Footer Menu

  • Contact us
  • Giving to the Dept of Physics
  • Work with us
  • Media

User account menu

  • Log in

Follow us

FIND US

Clarendon Laboratory,

Parks Road,

Oxford,

OX1 3PU

CONTACT US

Tel: +44(0)1865272200

University of Oxfrod logo Department Of Physics text logo
IOP Juno Champion logo Athena Swan Silver Award logo

© University of Oxford - Department of Physics

Cookies | Privacy policy | Accessibility statement

Built by: Versantus

  • Home
  • Research
  • Study
  • Engage
  • Our people
  • News & Comment
  • Events
  • Our facilities & services
  • About us
  • Current students
  • Staff intranet