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Boylan-Kolchin, Michael

Mike Boylan-Kolchin

Assistant Professor
Department of Astronomy


Cosmology and galaxy formation; dark matter physics; near-field cosmology and dynamics of the Local Group; cosmic reionization

mbk@astro.as.utexas.edu

Phone: 512-471-3343

Office Location
RLM 17.212

Postal Address
The University of Texas at Austin
Department of Astronomy, College of Natural Sciences
2515 Speedway, Stop C1400
Austin, TX 78712

Ph.D (Physics), University of California, Berkeley (2006)
B.A. (Astrophysics), Columbia University (2001)

Professor Mike Boylan-Kolchin is a theoretical astrophysicist who works on galaxy formation theory and its interface with cosmology. Recently, his research has focused on near-field cosmology, using detailed studies of nearby galaxies to address a wide variety of questions related to dark matter and galaxy formation physics across cosmic time. His work combines numerical simulations, analytic models, and observations.

Cosmology and galaxy formation, including:

  • the formation, evolution, and structure of galaxies and dark matter halos
  • the nature of dark matter
  • near-field cosmology
  • cosmic reionization
  • numerical simulations

Some Publication Highlights (for a full listing, see NASA ADS or the list here [pdf])

M. Boylan-Kolchin, Galaxy Motions Cause Trouble for Cosmology (2018); Science, 359, 520

M. Boylan-Kolchin, The Globular Cluster - Dark Matter Halo Connection (2017); MNRAS, 472, 3120

J. Bullock & M. Boylan-Kolchin, Small-Scale Challenges to the ΛCDM Paradigm (2017); ARAA, 55, 343

M. Boylan-Kolchin, D. Weisz, J. Bullock, M. Cooper, The Local Group: The Ultimate Deep Field (2016); MNRAS, 462, L51

M. Boylan-Kolchin, Cosmology: A Virtual Universe (2014); Nature, 509, 170

S. Garrison-Kimmel, M. Boylan-Kolchin, J. Bullock, K. Lee, ELVIS: Exploring the Local Volume in Simulations (2014); MNRAS, 438, 2578

M. Boylan-Kolchin, J. Bullock, M. Kaplinghat, The Milky Way’s Bright Satellites as an Apparent Failure of ΛCDM (2012); MNRAS, 422, 1203

M. Boylan-Kolchin, J. Bullock, M. Kaplinghat, Too Big to Fail? The Puzzling Darkness of Massive Milky Way Subhaloes (2011); MNRAS, 415, L40

M. Boylan-Kolchin, V. Springel, S. D. M. White, A. Jenkins, G. Lemson, Resolving Cosmic Structure Formation with the Millennium-II Simulation (2009); MNRAS, 398, 1150

National Science Foundation CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development) Award (2018)

Big Data

Dark Energy & Dark Matter

Space

McDonald Observatory