Dr Arash Bahramian

I’m an observational astronomer, working on properties of accreting neutron stars and black holes (known as X-ray binaries due to their bright emission in the X-rays). I study emission processes involved in these systems through observations across the electromagnetic spectrum (X-ray, UV, optical, IR and radio). One of the questions I try to answer is “How many black holes are there in our Galaxy?”. I try to answer this through study of binary star systems which might host a black hole, and also surveying parts of the galaxy that might have more black holes (like globular clusters).

I’m also interested in formation and evolution of X-ray binaries, specially in globular clusters. X-ray binaries in globular clusters are formed through encounters between the stars — while in the rest of the Galaxy, the stars in such binaries have formed together and are just at different evolutionary stages. As neutron stars/black holes pull matter from their companion, they interfere with that star’s evolution and can cause its life cycle to change dramatically.

For more information, you can visit my website: https://bersavosh.github.io/