Andisheh Mahdavi

Assistant Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
San Francisco State University

Thornton Hall 527; (415) 338 1697
Email: amahdavi at sfsu.edu  

Research Interests: dark matter, clusters of galaxies, X-ray astronomy, dynamics

Curriculum Vitae
Most of the material in the universe is invisible. That is one of the most dramatic, perplexing, and yet persistent findings of modern astrophysics. We know that dark matter exists because of the way it tugs on galaxies, heats cosmic gas, and bends the light from distant objects. My research involves mapping the large dark halos within cluster of galaxies, looking for structures that reveal the nature and composition of dark matter.
Selected Publications
  • "CLASH: Mass Distribution in an around MACSJ1206.2-0847 from a Full Cluster Lensing Analysis," Umetsu et al. 2012, ApJ, 755, 56
  • "Model-Independent Limits on the Line-of-Sight Extent of Galaxy Clusters Using X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Data," Mahdavi & Chang, 2011, ApJL, 735, L4
  • "The Role of Black Holes in Galaxy Formation and Evolution," Cattaneo et al., 2009, Nature, 460, 213
All Refereed Publications 
Software
I am co-director of the SFSTAR astrophysical computing facility. I have authored the Joint Analysis of Cluster Observations (JACO) package for modeling galaxy clusters; and the Hrothgar MCMC model fitting toolkit, which has been used to tackle a diverse array of problems across physics and astronomy.
Teaching