DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

Fred Rasio's research spans a wide range of topics in theoretical astrophysics, including: exoplanets and planet formation; the dynamics of dense stellar systems (globular clusters, galactic nuclei, young star clusters); hydrodynamic stellar interactions (stellar collisions and mergers, binary coalescence, common envelope evolution); and relativistic astrophysics (neutron stars and black holes, gravitational waves, relativistic star clusters, radio pulsars). His most recent work has focused on the dynamics of tightly packed planetary systems, gravitational wave sources for laser-interferometer detectors (LIGO, LISA), and the formation of massive black holes through stellar dynamical processes.

Awards and Honors

• Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1996-2000)
• Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (2006)
• Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2018)
• Brouwer Career Award of the American Astronomical Society (2019)
• Elected Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society (2020)

Selected Publications

• F. A. Rasio and S. L. Shapiro
  Hydrodynamical Evolution of Coalescing Binary Neutron Stars
  The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 401, p. 226 (1992)
   
• F. A. Rasio and E. B. Ford 
  Dynamical instabilities and the formation of extrasolar planetary systems
  Science, Vol. 274, p. 954 (1996)

• E. B. Ford, B. Kozinsky, and F. A. Rasio
  Secular Evolution of Hierarchical Triple Star Systems
  The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 535, p. 385 (2000)

• S. Naoz, W. M. Farr, Y. Lithwick, F. A. Rasio, and J. Teyssandier
  Hot Jupiters from secular planet–planet interactions
  Nature, Vol. 473, p. 187 (2011)
  
  
• C. L. Rodriguez, M. Morscher, B. Pattabiraman, S. Chatterjee, C.-J. Haster, and F. A. Rasio
  Binary Black Hole Mergers from Globular Clusters: Implications for Advanced LIGO
  Physical Review Letters, Vol. 115, id.051101 (2015)

• F. Antonini, and F. A. Rasio
  Merging Black Hole Binaries in Galactic Nuclei: Implications for Advanced-LIGO Detections
  The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 831, id.187 (2016)

• K. Kremer, J. C. Lombardi, W. Lu, A. L. Piro, and F. A. Rasio
  Hydrodynamics of Collisions and Close Encounters between Stellar Black Holes and Main-sequence Stars
  The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 933, id.203 (2022)

• E. González Prieto, N. C. Weatherford, G. Fragione, K. Kremer, and F. A. Rasio
  Intermediate-mass Black Hole Progenitors from Stellar Collisions in Dense Star Clusters
  The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 969, id.29 (2024)

• Rasio Online Publications