By Lyuba Encheva, CITA
When Anupam Mazumdar first arrived in Canada in 2002, he was a CITA National Fellow stationed at McGill University, working at the frontier where particle physics meets the early universe. More than two decades later, he is returning to the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) at the University of Toronto as a full professor. In the intervening years,…
New simulations show that a white dwarf torn apart by an intermediate-mass black hole can detonate into a thermonuclear supernova. This explosion resembles those from double-white-dwarf mergers, but its brightness and spectra vary dramatically depending on viewing angle.
The study, recently published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, was led by CITA Postdoctoral Fellow Pavan Vynatheya and Luc…
Magnetohydrodynamic modelling shows that colliding and merging stars produce distinct “fingerprints,” offering a new way to trace the violent origins of unusual stars such as blue stragglers.
A study published recently in The Astrophysical Journal provides the most detailed comparison yet of what happens when two stars collide versus when two stars in a binary system merge together — two…
By Cynthia Macdonald, A&S News
Internationally renowned astrophysicist and planetary scientist Sara Seager will officially join the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) at the University of Toronto on October 1 as North Star Distinguished Professor. This honour accompanies another of significance: she has been named the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair in Planetary and…
Are all merging compact objects that produce gravitational waves black holes, or are some of them highly convincing imposters?
A new study published on August 14, 2026 in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters has brought scientists one step closer to answering this fundamental question. Co-led by Dr. Aditya Vijaykumar, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Canadian Institute for…
April – May – June
If a single theme defined this quarter, it was community. At the end of May, we proudly celebrated CITA’s 40th anniversary, bringing together over 160 participants in person and hundreds more online from across the globe. The three-day conference presented forward-looking astrophysics research but, just as much, it felt like a family homecoming. We reflected on our…
Originally published by A&S News.
The Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) marked its 40th anniversary at the University of Toronto at the end of May, bringing together astrophysicists from around the world for a three-day conference celebrating four decades of research, training and collaboration.
More than 160 participants attended in person, with hundreds mor…
How do you map out the entire universe? For University of Toronto astrophysicist Dick Bond, you do it with five decades of passion, groundbreaking math, and a healthy dose of curiosity.
A fascinating new feature by the University of Toronto looks back at Bond’s legendary 50-year career—and his massive role in putting Canada on the global astrophysics map.
If you’ve ever heard the terms…
New research performed on the Trillium/SciNet Supercomputer at the University of Toronto reveals a fundamentally different mechanism by which exploding stars shape the turbulent structure of our galaxy. The study, authored by Dr. James Beattie, postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), was accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Shantanu Basu, Interim Director of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, is part of an international team that has revealed, for the first time, how infalling gas from star-forming cores gradually transitions into planet-forming disks. The study, led by Indrani Das from Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, combines numerical simulations with observations…