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Scholarly Interest Report
         
Mustafa Amin
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy
 
e-mail:Mustafa.A.Amin@rice.edu
 
  • Ph.D Physics (2008) Stanford University
  • B.S Physics & Mathematics (2003) University of Texas at Arlington
 
Primary Department
   Department of Physics and Astronomy
Picture
 
Websites
 Personal webpage
 Publications: Inspires-HEP
 Publications: NASA ADS
 
Research Areas
 early universe: inflation; reheating after inflation late universe: dark matter & dark energy, large scale structure inter-disciplinary: connections between Anderson localization and particle production in cosmology; solitons and their interactions
 

Theoretical Physics and Cosmology

 

How did the universe get populated with particles during the hot big bang (reheating after inflation)? My research is aimed at understanding this dynamically rich period in our cosmic history with strong connections to nonlinear dynamics and particle physics. Currently, I am exploring a surprising connection between the modeling of current conduction in disordered wires and particle production in the early universe.

I also delve into astrophysical problems: from CMB spectral distortions and dark matter/dark energy to exoplanets. On the mathematical side, I am fascinated by solitons, their interactions and their relevance to cosmology.


 

 
Selected Publications
 Refereed articles
 

Mustafa A. Amin & Daniel Baumann "From Wires to Cosmology." Journal of Cosmology & Astroparticle Physics (2016)

 
 

A. A. Abdo, M. Ackermann, M. Ajello, A. Allafort, M. A. Amin et. al "Gamma-ray flaring activity from the gravitationally lensed blazar PKS 1830-211 observed by Fermi LAT." Astrophysical Journal, 799 (2015) : 143.

 
 

J. Chluba, L. Dai, D. Grin, M. A. Amin & M. Kamionkowski "Spectral distortions from the dissipation of tensor perturbations." MNRAS, 446(3) (2015) : 2871-2886.

 
 

C. C. Cheung, S. Larsson, J. D. Scargle, M. A. Amin et. al "Fermi-LAT Detection of Gravitational Lens Delayed Gamma-ray Flares from Blazar B0218+357."  Astrophysical Journal Letters, 782 (2014) : L14.

 
 

K. D. Lozanov & M. A. Amin "The end of inflation, oscillons and matter/anti-matter asymmetry." Phys. Rev. D, 90 (2014)

 
 

M. A. Amin, I. Banik, C. Negreanu, and I. Yang "Ultra-relativistic oscillon collisions."  Phys. Rev. D, 90 (2014)

 
 

M. A. Amin, M. Hertzberg, D. Kaiser and J. Karouby "Nonperturbative dynamics of reheating after inflation." International Journal of Modern Physics D, D24 (2014)

 
 

N. Madhusudhan, M. A. Amin & G. Kennedy "Towards chemical constraints on hot Jupiter migration , Astrophysical Journal Letters." Astrophysical Journal Letters, 794 (2014) : L12.

 
 

M. A. Amin "K-Oscillons: Oscillons with Non-Canonical Kinetic Terms." Phys. Rev. D, 87 (2013) : 123505.

 
 

M. A. Amin & D. Grin "Probing early-universe phase transitions with CMB spectral distortions." Phys. Rev. D, 90 (2013) : 083528.

 
 

M. A. Amin, E. Lim and I. Yang "A Clash of Kinks." Phys. Rev. Lett, 111 (2013) : 224101.

 
 

M. A. Amin, E. Lim and I. Yang "A Scattering Theory of Ultra-relativistic Solitons." Phys. Rev. D, 88 (2013)

 
 

M. A. Amin, P. Zukin and E. Bertschinger "Scale dependent growth from a transition in dark energy dynamics." Phys. Rev. D, 85 (2012) : 103510 .

 
 

M. A. Amin, R. Easther and H. Finkel "Inflaton fragmentation and oscillon formation in three dimensions." JCAP, 1012 (2012) : 001.

 
 

M. A. Amin, R. Easther, H. Finkel, R. Flauger and M. Hertzberg "Oscillons after inflation." Phys. Rev. Lett., 108 (2012) : 241302.

 
 

M. A. Amin "M. A. Amin, Inflaton Fragmentation: Emergence of pseuso-stable inflaton lumps (oscillons) after inflation." Phys. Rev. DSubmitted

 
 

M. A. Amin and D. Shirokoff "Flat-top oscillons in an expanding universe." , 81 (2010) : 085045.

 
 

M. A. Amin, R. V. Wagoner, R. D. Blandford "A sub-horizon framework for testing the relationship between cosmological matter distribution and metric perturbations." MNRAS, 390 (1) (2008) : 131-142.

 
 

D. Rapetti, S. Allen, M. Amin, R. D. Blandford "A kinematic approach to dark energy studies." MNRAS, 375 (2007) : 1510-1520.

 
 

M. A. Amin, T. Wizansky "Relativistic dark matter at the Galactic center." Phys. Rev. D, 77 (2007)

 
 

M. A. Amin, A. Frolov "Persistent patterns in black hole accretion disks."  MNRAS Lett., 370 (2006) : L42-L45.

 
 

T. Srinivasan-Rao, M. Amin, V. Castillo, D. M. Lazarus, D. Nikas, C. Ozben, Y. K. Semertsidis, A. Stillman, T. Tsang, L. Kowalski ", Novel single shot scheme to mea- sure sub-millimeter electron bunch lengths using electro-optic technique." Phys.Rev.ST Accel.Beams , 5 (2002) : e04201.

 
Presentations
 Conference Paper
 

"From Wires to Cosmology." PASCOS 15, (June 30, 2015)

 
 

"From Wires to Particle Production in Cosmology." Division of Particles and Fields , Michigan. (Aug 6, 2015)

 
 Invited Talks
 

"How did the Hot Big Bang Begin?." Rice University, (March 10, 2015)

 
 

"How did the Hot Big Bang begin?." San Francisco State University, (March 2, 2015)

 
 Seminar Speaker
 

"From Wires to Cosmology." University of Texas at Austin. (Nov 3, 2015)

 
 

"From Wires to Cosmology." Arizona State University, Arizona State University. (Sept 30, 2015)

 
 

"From Wires to Cosmology." Texas A & M University, (Oct 29, 2015)

 
 

"From the Hot Big Bang to Hot Jupiters." Stanford University, (March 3, 2015)

 
 

"How did the hot big bang begin?." University of Oxford, (June 4, 2015)

 
Awards, Prizes, & Fellowships
 Senior Kavli Fellow, Kavli Institute for Cosmology at Cambridge (2012)

 Pappalardo Fellow, MIT (2008)

 Stanford Graduate Fellowship, Stanford University (2004)

 Kirkpatrick Award for Excellence in Teaching Physics, Stanford University Dept. of Physics (2005)

 1st place, Symposium of Undergraduate Research, University of Texas at Arlington (2002)

 Energy Research Undergraduate Laboratory Fellowship, Brookhaven National Laboratory (2001-2002)

Positions Held
 Pappalardo Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2008 - 2011)

 Senior Kavli Fellow, University of Cambridge. (2012 - 2015)