MIT Kavli Institute Directory

Steven Ehlert

Postdoctoral Associate Postdoctoral Scholar

Steven Ehlert studied Physics and Mathematics at Northwestern University in Evantston, IL, where he got his first introduction to X-ray mirrors and data analysis. After graduation he spent a year at the Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany to study TeV Gamma Ray astronomy with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) telescope. He then went to Stanford University for his PhD, where he returned to X-ray astronomy to work under the tutelage of Professor Steve Allen.

Research interests:

Steven's research interests primarily revolve around the astrophysical processes that drive the formation of galaxy clusters: the largest and most recently formed gravitationally bound structures in the Universe and the ways by which galaxies in clusters influence and are influenced by the cluster environment. In August 2013 he arrived at MIT to work with Mark Bautz and the rest of the Chandra team on a range of questions with regards to the galaxy population and diffuse gas hosted in clusters.

Representative publications:

Ehlert, S.; Allen, S.W.; von der Linden, A.; Werner, N.; Simionescu, Kenney, J.D.P.; A.; Million, E. T.; Finoguenov, A.; “Ripping at the Seams: The Network of Stripped Gas Surrounding M86”, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 430, Issue 3

Ehlert, S.; Allen, S.W.; Brandt, W.N.; Xue, Y.Q.; Luo, B.; von der Linden, A.; Mantz, A.; and Morris, R. G. “X-ray Bright Active Galactic Nuclei in Massive Galaxy Clusters I: Number Counts and Spatial Distribution”, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 428, Issue 4

Ehlert, S.; Allen, S. W.; von der Linden, A.; Simionescu, A.; Werner, N.; Taylor, G. B.; Gentile, G.; Ebeling, H.; Allen, M. T.; Applegate, D.; Dunn, R. J. H.; Fabian, A. C.; Kelly, P.; Million, E. T.; Morris, R. G.; Sanders, J. S.; Schmidt, R. W. “Extreme active galactic nucleus feedback and cool-core destruction in the X-ray luminous galaxy cluster MACS J1931.8-2634”, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2011, Volume 411, Issue 3