I am a DPhil student in astrophysics starting from year 2021 supervised by Prof Bence Kocsis. I work on applying statistical mechanics to study the distribution of stars in galactic nuclei. The distribution of the angular momentum direction at thermal equilibrium ubiquitously shows evidence of vertical mass segregation. Phase transitions could occur: the change in one component can induce a discontinuous change in the other component between a disk state and an isotropic state.
I also work on gravitational lensing of stars by supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHB). When a SMBHB orbits and potentially inspirals, the corresponding caustic curve also rotates and potentially changes its size. If a source star in the same host galaxy sits near the caustic curve, the star will get lenses quasi-periodically by the SMBHB. Observing the lightcurve allows us to learn about the properties and evolution of the SMBHB.