Research

Research at MoCA is focussed in several groups as well as a range of individual research interests. The main research groups are listed below. Information about particular research topics can be found by following the links.

Star and planet formation		Dynamics Research
	The star and planet formation group uses fluid dynamics simulations, radiative transfer and telescopes around the world to understand how stars and planets form.		The dynamics group studies small-N systems, in particular extrasolar planetary systems including the effects of moons, tides, spin-orbit coupling and relativity, and the dynamics of small-N systems in dense stellar systems. Three-body stability is central to much of our work.
Galaxy Evolution		Gravitational Waves
	The Galaxy Evolution Group studies how galaxies change and evolve over cosmic time.		The Gravitational Wave group is involved in all forms of gravitational-wave research across all wavebands.  This includes astrophysics, instrumentation and data analysis for the LIGO detectors that recently announced the first, direct detection of gravitational waves.
High Energy Astrophysics		SINS: Stellar Interiors and NucleoSynthesis
	High Energy Astrophysics involves understanding some of the most violent objects in the universe, such as supernovae and the neutron stars they leave behind.		The SINs Group studies the structure and interior evolution of stars as well as the nuclear elements they produce.
Clique du Soleil: Solar Physics		Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics
	The Solar Physics group is mainly concerned with understanding magnetic activity in the Sun using helioseismology		The SPH group at Monash actively develops the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method, with application to problems in fluid dynamics and computational astrophysics.

Other research topics at MoCA include:

	Neutron Star Binaries		Particle Cosmology
	The Formation of the Solar System		Star Formation
	Active Galaxies		Binary Stars and the Early Universe
	Supernova Remnants		Black Holes