I am an observational astronomer with research interests in the fields of supermassive black holes and galaxy evolution. I am interested to investigate how galaxies, the basic building block of the universe, have evolved since the beginning of time. Since supermassive black holes in the center of massive galaxies seem to play an important role in their hosts' lives, the detailed interface between them and mergers of massive black holes are as much a driving force of galaxy evolution as they are of my research.
2020-Present: Assistant Research Astronomer, UC Irvine
2018-2020: Assistant Project Scientist, UC Irvine
2017-2018: Postdoctoral Scholar, UC Irvine
2015-2017: University of California Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Riverside/Irvine
2012-2014: Thirty Meter Telescope Postdoctoral Scholar, UC Riverside
Ph.D., Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012
M.S., Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008
B.S., Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 2006
Department of Physics and Astronomy
4129 Frederick Reines Hall
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697
vivianu [at] uci [dot] edu
Office: FRH 2182
ORCID: 0000-0002-1912-0024
Twitter: @justtheletteru
Blue sky: @justtheletteru.bsky.social
My research interests involve understanding the coevolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and galaxies within the realm of observational extragalactic astronomy, from detailed gas dynamics around SMBHs at the sub-parsec scales to their connection with their hosts at the galactic scales. Much of my research focus is summarized in my review article on "The Role of AGN in Luminous Infrared Galaxies from the Multiwavelength Perspective".
What happens when galaxies merge?
I co-lead the Keck OSIRIS AO LIRG Analysis within the larger Great Observatories All-sky LIRGs Survey collaboration to study gas dynamics in the inner 1kpc region of nearby (U)LIRGs in a systematic way. I am the PI of a NASA Astrophysics Data Analysis Program project that aims to provide a multiwavelength baseline for understanding the nature of obscured accreting supermassive black holes in high spatial resolution observations. My JWST GO1 Program will peer through heavy dust screens into the nuclei of several nearby galaxy mergers where powerful outflows are launched.
How does AGN influence its immediate vicinity?
I am the science lead of the latest campaign of the Lick AGN Monitoring Project, using the technique of reverberation mapping to probe the broad line region gas dynamics in nearby Seyfert galaxies. Our results reveal a diversity of broad-line region gas kinematics at moderately high AGN luminosities, which will be further investigated using direct forward-modeling algorithms.
James Webb Space Telescope
As a member of the inaugural JWST Master Class, I led the organizing of our UCI JWST Proposal Training Workshop in February 2020 to help prepare our local Southern California astronomy community for submitting Cycle 1 proposals. Sharing my expertise as a key member of the Early Release Science-1328 team and PI of the Cycle 1 GO Program-1717, I am looking forward to great science to be done with this NASA flagship. Our science program is featured on Webb Telescope, NASA News, UCI News, and many other websites listed under Outreach / Media!
Here is a list of folks that I have had the luck to work with on various galaxy/AGN projects:
Yiqing Song
02/2024 - Present: ESO-ALMA Fellow
Marina Bianchin
09/2022 - Present: UCI Postdoc / IAU Gruber Fellow
Justin Kader
09/2022 - Present: UCI Postdoc
Raymond Remigio
10/2021 - Present: UCI Grad (co-advising with Aaron Barth)
Hajar Aziz
03/2023 - Present: UCI Undergrad / Postbaccalaureate
Tianmu Gao
07/2020 - 08/2024: Beijing Normal University Masters thesis; now Grad at Australia National University
Judson Leary
03/2023 - 12/2023: UCI Undergrad
Liam Hunt
06/2020 - 09/2021: UCI Undergrad Senior thesis; now Grad at University of Maryland Baltimore County
Nikki Azarafza
08/2021 - 12/2021: University High School student
Daphne Ghazizadeh
07/2021 - 08/2021: George Washington University Undergrad (co-advised with Hengxiao Guo)
Jeffrey Gong
06/2021 - 08/2021: Diamond Bar High School student (co-advised with Hengxiao Guo)
Akshay Gowrishankar
06/2020 - 10/2020: Caltech Undergrad
(co-advised with George Privon); SURF
Ansh Vashisth
12/2019 - 10/2020: Orange County School of the Arts High School; now Undergrad at UC Berkeley
Bailey Liu
06/2019 - 11/2019: Orange County School of the Arts High School; Regeneron Top 300 Scholar; now Woodrow Wilson Undergrad Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins University