4 papers
A Machine Learning Framework for Stellar Collision Transient Identification
Betty X. Hu, Avi Loeb
Modern astronomical surveys, such as the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), are capable of detecting thousands of transient events per year, necessitating the use of automated and sc…
Accretion Flares from Stellar Collisions in Galactic Nuclei
Betty X. Hu, Avi Loeb
The strong tidal force in a supermassive black hole's (SMBH) vicinity, coupled with a higher stellar density at the center of a galaxy, make it an ideal location to study the inter…
An Upper Limit on the Initial Temperature of the Radiation-Dominated Universe
Betty X. Hu, Abraham Loeb
Gravitational waves (GWs) are produced by colliding particles through the gravitational analogue of electromagnetic bremsstrahlung. We calculate the contribution of free-free emiss…
Spikey: Self-Lensing Flares from Eccentric SMBH Binaries
Betty X. Hu, Daniel J. D'Orazio, Zoltan Haiman +4
We examine the light curves of two quasars, motivated by recent suggestions that a supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) can exhibit sharp lensing spikes. We model the variability…