Xuejian (Jacob) Shen

Theoretical and Computational Astrophysicist at Caltech

About Me

I recently earned PhD in Physics at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), supervised by Prof. Philip F. Hopkins. I work on theoretical astrophysics and cosmology, specifically on galaxy formation & evolution, associated to Theoretical AstroPhysics Including Relativity and Cosmology (TAPIR).

Research

My research revolves around the formation & evolution of galaxies and the nature of dark matter. Several topics on my radar are:

  • Explore the nature of dark matter in the context of galaxy formation (Thesis research)
  • Galaxy formation & evolution in the early Universe
  • Seeding, evolution & demography of luminous quasars in the early Universe

    • Background

  • I'm now an active member of the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) scientific collabration.
  • In 2018, I received my bachelor degree in Physics from Peking University, supervised by Prof. Fukun Liu.
  • In 2017, I worked as a summer student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with Prof. Mark Vogelsberger.

    • Some Visualizations

    The life of a Milky Way-mass galaxy

    Copyright @Xuejian Shen

    The Milky Way-mass galaxy in the Latte simulation

    Copyright @FIRE collabration

    Cosmic structure in the THESAN EoR simulations (CDM versus WDM)

    Copyright @Xuejian Shen

    A proto-cluster in the IllustrisTNG simulation (post-processed with SKIRT)

    Copyright @Xuejian Shen

    Research Highlights

    28 publications (16 refereed)

    10 first/corresponding-author journal papers, see Publication for details.

    Over 600 citations with h-index 12

    First/corresponding-author citation > 400