Research

Professor Christopher Reynolds has broad interests in observational and theoretical high-energy astrophysics.  Much of his work and that by his group centres on the astrophysics of black holes and the role that they play in the Universe, addressing four specific themes -- observational probes of relativistic physics close to black holes, black holes as probes of physics beyond the Standard Model, theoretical studies of accretion disks, and theoretical studies of the influence that supermassive black holes have on galactic-scale structure formation.

Current research group members:

• Dr. Mark Avara (Postdoctoral Research Associate)
• Dr. Vanessa López Barquero (Postdoctoral Research Associate)
• Dr. Greg Marcel (Postdoctoral Research Associate)
• Dr. James Matthews (Herchel Smith Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Dr. Prakriti Pal Choudhury (Postdoctoral Research Associate)
• Dr. Michael Parker (Postdoctoral Research Associate)
• Annabelle Richard-Laferriere (PhD student)
• Payton Rodman (PhD student)
• Julia Sisk-Reynes (PhD student)
• Sam Turner (PhD student)

Recent highlights

• Principal Investigator of the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite AXIS
• Spin of a ultramassive black hole (with Sisk-Reynes & Matthews)
• Tightest constraints on low-mass axion light particles (with Sisk-Reynes & Matthews)
• New models for energy transport in galaxy clusters (with Pal Choudhury)
• Probes of the circumnuclear environment of NGC1275 
• Development of Whistler-Regulated MHD (with James Drake [UMD])
• ARAA review article on black hole spin

Career

Current appointments:
2017 - now  : Plumian Professor of Astronomy, IoA, Univ. of Cambridge
2018 - now : Deputy Director, IoA, Univ. of Cambridge
2018 - now  : Fellow, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
2020 - now : Council Member, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
2020 - now  : College Park Professor, Univ. of Maryland, MD, USA

Previous employment:
2009 - 2017 : Professor of Astronomy, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, USA
2005 - 2009 : Associate Professor of Astronomy, Univ. of Maryland
2001 - 2005 : Assistant Professor of Astronomy, Univ. of Maryland
1998 - 2001 : Sr. Research Assoc., JILA, Univ. of Colorado Boulder CO, USA
1996 - 1998 : Research Assoc., JILA, Univ. of Colorado Boulder CO, USA

Previous additional appointments:
2018 - 2020  : Adjunct Professor, Univ. of Maryland
2013 - 2014 : Director, Astronomy CTC, Univ. of Maryland
2010 - 2013 : Director, Joint Space Sci. Inst. (JSI), Univ. of Maryland

Notable community service:
2022 -now: Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS), Principal Investigator
2020 - now : ESA-Athena SWG "Physics Beyond the Standard Model", Chair
2016 - now : NASA/Lynx Science & Technology Definition Team, member.
2018 - 2020 : AAS High-Energy Astrophysics Division, Past Chair
2016 - 2018 : AAS High-Energy Astrophysics Division, Chair
2013            : NASA Astrophysics Roadmap, committee member
2009 - 2010 : Astro2010 Decadal Survey, GCT Science Panel member

 

 

Qualifications

1996 : Ph.D., IoA & Trinity College, Univ. of Cambridge
1993 : MMath ("Part III Maths"), Trinity College, Univ. of Cambridge
1992 : B.A. (Theor. Physics), Trinity College, Univ. of Cambridge

 

Awards and Prizes

2019-2024 : ERC Advanced Grant DISKtoHALO
2015 : Sackler Visiting Fellow (IoA, Univ. Cambridge)
2014 : Simons Fellow in Theoretical Physics
2013 : Hintze Lecturer (Univ. of Oxford)
2013 : NCU/Delta Young Astronomer Lecturer Award (Taiwan)
2012 : Biermann Lecturer (Max Planck Inst. for Astrophysics, Garching)
2005 : Helen B. Warner Prize
1998 : Hubble Fellowship
1993 : Tyson Medal (Univ. Cambridge)

 

Teaching

NST-Astrophysics Part II, Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics (course notes)
Courses taught at the University of Maryland