353 citations · 2k across the 23 of their papers we have counts for
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A new inclination instability reshapes Keplerian disks into cones: application to the outer Solar System
Ann-Marie Madigan, Michael McCourt
Disks of bodies orbiting a much more massive central object are extremely common in astrophysics. When the orbits comprising such disks are eccentric, we show they are susceptible…
Unbound Debris Streams and Remnants Resulting From the Tidal Disruptions of Stars by Supermassive Black Holes
James Guillochon, Michael McCourt, Xian Chen +2
The kinetic energy of a star in orbit about a supermassive black hole is a significant fraction of its rest mass energy when its periapse is comparable to its tidal radius. Upon it…
A Validated Nonlinear Kelvin-Helmholtz Benchmark for Numerical Hydrodynamics
Daniel Lecoanet, Michael McCourt, Eliot Quataert +6
The nonlinear evolution of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is a popular test for code verification. To date, most Kelvin-Helmholtz problems discussed in the literature are ill-pos…
Going with the flow: using gas clouds to probe the accretion flow feeding Sgr A*
Michael McCourt, Ann-Marie Madigan
The massive black hole in our galactic center, Sgr A*, accretes only a small fraction of the gas available at its Bondi radius. The physical processes determining this accretion ra…