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Boylan-Kolchin, Mike

Mike Boylan-Kolchin

Associate Professor
Department of Astronomy

Isabel McCutcheon Harte Centennial Chair in Astronomy

Cosmology and galaxy formation; dark matter physics; near-field cosmology; cosmic reionization; globular clusters

mbk@astro.as.utexas.edu

Phone: 512-471-3000

Office Location
PMA 16.324

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

CV (pdf)

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
  • globular cluster formation and evolution
  • cosmological parameters
  • 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)

Board of Visitors Teaching Excellence Award (2019)

Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher (2021)

Big Data

Dark Energy & Dark Matter

Space

McDonald Observatory