Colin J. Burke, PhD

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NSF AAPF Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Astronomy, Yale University

Curriculum Vitae (updated 11/2024)

Yale Webpage
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Publications (ORCiD)
Publications (ADS)
Publications (Google Scholar)

About Me Research Outreach Talks Resources

About Me

I am an observational astronomer working on problems related to supermassive black hole formation and evolution, the population of intermediate-mass black holes, and AGN accretion. I completed my PhD at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2023. I am currently an NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University.

Intermediate-mass black holes

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) had to exist at some point in cosmic time to form the observed population of supermassive black holes.

Observed black hole mass spectrum

Figure Caption: The observed mass spectrum of black holes.

AGN Variability

I study the variability or “flickering” of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and gain new insights into black hole accretion. Our recent work establishes a mass-timescale relation, whereby AGN variability can be used to estimate the mass of the central black hole.

Accretion Disk Flickering Animation

Figure Caption: Artistic animation of an AGN accretion disk (Image Credit: Mark A. Garlick/Simons Foundation).

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