Pappalardo Fellows

MUSTAFA AMIN
Pappalardo Fellow in Physics: 2008-11

MUSTAFA AMIN, Pappalardo Fellow in Physics: 2008-11

Name: Mustafa Amin

Title(s): Pappalardo Fellow in Physics: 2008-11

Email: mamin@mit.edu

Phone: (617) 253-3887

Address:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Bldg. 6C-413
Cambridge, MA 02139

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Area of Physics:

Theoretical Astrophysics

Research Interests

Mustafa Amin has a broad range of interests in theoretical astrophysics, gravitation and cosmology, ranging from the explosive production of particles after inflation to the nature of gravity on cosmological scales.

His current interests include understanding how the universe got populated with particles after the end of inflation (reheating/the hot big bang). Questions of interest include: If detected, what can gravitational waves from this era tell us about the microphysics of reheating? Immediately after inflation, was the universe in a turbulent state or dominated by coherent structures? Will we be able to tell the difference observationally? Recently, he has been exploring the copious production of psedo-solitons from inflaton fragmentation.

With regards to the late (post recombination universe), he is interested in using the growth of structure to distinguish between different dark-matter candidates.

In the past he has worked on constructing a cosmological counterpart to the parameterized post-Newtonian framework developed for testing gravity on solar system scales. Other projects include obtaining kinematical constraints on cosmic acceleration, exploring the existence of geometric patterns in black hole accretion discs and understanding the effect of velocity dependent cross sections on the dark-matter annihilation signal from the galactic center.

Biographical Sketch

Mustafa was born in Surat, India. After moving to the U. S. in 1999, he received his undergraduate education in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Texas at Arlington (2003). He received his Ph.D at Stanford University under Professors Roger Blandford and Robert Wagoner in 2008.

Along with research he enjoys painting and is passionate about teaching and public outreach.

Selected Publications

  • M. A. Amin, P. Zukin and E. Bertschinger, Scale dependent growth from a late time transition in dark energy dynamics at late times, Phys. Rev. D 85, 103510, 2012  [arXiv:1108.1793] 

  • M. A. Amin, R. Easther, H. Finkel, R. Flauger and M. Hertzberg Oscillons after inflation (accepted in Phys. Rev. Lett. May 16, 2012) [arXiv:1106.3335]

  • M. A. Amin, R. Easther and H. Finkel, Inflaton fragmentation and oscillon formation in three dimensions, JCAP 1012, 001 (2010) [arXiv:1009.2505] 

  • M. A. Amin, R. Easther and H. Finkel, Inflaton fragmentation and oscillon formation in three dimensions [arXiv:1009.2505]
  • M. A. Amin, Inflaton Fragmentation: Emergence of pseuso-stable inflaton lumps (oscillons) after inflation, accepted Phy. Rev. D [arXiv:1006.3075]
  • M. A. Amin, D. Shirokoff, Flat-top oscillons in an expanding universe, Phys. Rev. D, vol 81, id. 085045 [arXiv:1002.3380]
  • M. A. Amin, T. Wizansky, Relativistic dark matter at the Galactic center, Physical Review D, vol. 77, Issue 12, id. 123510 [arXiv: 0710.5517v1]
  • M. A. Amin, R. V. Wagoner, R. D. Blandford, A sub-horizon framework for testing the relationship between cosmological matter distribution and metric perturbations, MNRAS, Volume 390, Issue 1, pp. 131-142 [arXiv:0708.1793v1]
  • D. Rapetti, S. Allen, M. Amin, R. D. Blandford, A kinematic approach to dark energy studies, MNRAS, Volume 375, Issue 4, pp. 1510-1520 [arXiv:astro-ph/0605683v2]
  • M. A. Amin, A. Frolov, Persistent patterns in black hole accretion disks, MNRAS Lett. 370 : L42-L45, 2006 [arXiv:astro-ph/0603687v1]
  • T. Srinivasan-Rao, M. Amin, V. Castillo, D. M. Lazarus, D. Nikas, C. Ozben, Y. K. Semertsidis, A. Stillman, T. Tsang, L. Kowalski, Novel single shot scheme to measure sub-millimeter electron bunch lengths using electro-optic technique, Phys.Rev.ST Accel.Beams 5, e042801, 2002