NASA Postdoctoral Program - Astrophysics: The Physics of Compact Objects

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity focuses on the study of the physics of compact objects (objects whose size is a few Schwarzschild radii), spanning roughly ten decades in luminosity from galactic x-ray sources to luminous quasars. The research takes a unified approach to understanding the engine responsible for radiation release, presumably by accretion on a compact object, across various object classes including radio bright, radio quiet, blazar, and Seyfert I and II objects. The modeling program employs nonthermal processes to provide model spectra extending from radio to gamma rays, with particular emphasis on radio loud quasars and their relationship to radio quiet counterparts. The fellowship is located at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, under the advisorship of Dr. Demosthenes Kazanas.