Philip Mocz
Software Engineer at the Flatiron Institute

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About

I am a computational research scientist and software engineer at the Flatiron Institute, Center for Computational Astrophysics interested in developing software for scalable high-performance multi-physics simulations integrated with modern AI techniques. Prior to joining the foundation, I was a computational physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where I developed high-performance multi-physics simulation code on heterogenous architectures, in particular high-order Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) finite element methods for magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations, as part of the Multiphysics on Advanced Platforms Project (MAPP). I also have in interest in simulating cosmological dark matter models, such as fuzzy dark matter.

I completed my PhD in Astrophysics 2017 at Harvard University under the advisorship of Lars Hernquist. During my PhD, I designed a finite volume moving mesh MHD code, and applied it to study structure formation and magnetic field growth in the interstellar medium and in cosmological settings. My physics modules were implemented into the Arepo code. I received an AB in Mathematics and Astrophysics in 2012 from Harvard.

My research interests include multi-physics simulations, cosmology, galaxy evolution, black hole physics, turbulence, numerical methods, computer visualization, and machine learning/AI.

I grew up in Hawaii and I enjoy spending time in the outdoors.

📝 I maintain a blog on introductory tutorials to scientific computing with Python, accessible at the undergraduate level. You can follow me on Medium and Twitter.

CV

Download my curriculum vitae (CV) [.pdf]

Publications

A complete record of my publications can be found using the searches below:

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Selected Recent Papers Subscribe to What's New

Cosmological Structure Formation and Soliton Phase Transition in Fuzzy Dark Matter with Axion Self-Interactions
Mocz, P.; Fialkov, A.; Vogelsberger, M.; Boylan-Kolchin, M; Chavanis, P.H.; Amin, M.A.; Bose, S.; Dome, T.; Hernquist, L.; Lancaster, L.; Notis, M.; Painter, C.; Robles, V.H.; Zavala, J.; 2023 MNRAS, 521, 2608

Toward Cosmological Simulations of Dark Matter on Quantum Computers
Mocz, P.; Szasz, A.; 2021 ApJ, 910, 29

Galaxy Formation with BECDM - II. Cosmic Filaments and First Galaxies
Mocz, P.; Fialkov, A.; Vogelsberger, M.; Becerra, F.; Shen, X.; Robles, V.H.; Amin, M.A.; Zavala, J.; Boylan-Kolchin, M.; Bose, S.; Marinacci, F.; Chavanis, P.H.; Lancaster, K.; Hernquist, L.; 2021 MNRAS, 494, 2021

First star-forming structures in fuzzy cosmic filaments
Mocz, P.; Fialkov A.; Vogelsberger, M.; Becerra, F.; Amin, M.A.; Bose, S.; Boylan-Kolchin, M.; Chavanis, P.H.; Hernquist, L.; Lancaster, L.; Marinacci, M.; Robles, V.H.; Zavala, J; 2019 Phys. Rev. Lett. (Editors' Selection) 123, 14

A Markov model for non-lognormal density distributions in compressive isothermal turbulence
Mocz, P.; Burkhart, B.; 2019 ApJL, 884, 2

Formation, Gravitational Clustering and Interactions of Non-relativistic Solitons in an Expanding Universe
Amin, M.; Mocz, P.; 2019 Phys. Rev. D, 100, 6

Star formation from dense shocked regions in supersonic isothermal magnetoturbulence
Mocz, P.; Burkhart, B.; 2018 MNRAS, 480, 3916

On the Schrodinger-Poisson--Vlasov-Poisson correspondence
Mocz, P.; Lancaster, L.; Fialkov A.; Becerra, F.; Chavanis, P.H.; 2018 PhRvD, 97, 3519

Galaxy Formation with BECDM - I. Turbulence and relaxation of idealised haloes
Mocz, P.; Vogelsberger, M.; Robles, V.; Zavala J.; Boylan-Kolchin, M.; Fialkov A.; Hernquist, L.; 2017 MNRAS, 471, 4559

Moving mesh simulations of star forming cores in magneto-gravo-turbulence
Mocz, P.; Burkhart, B.; Hernquist, L.; McKee, C.; Springel, V.; 2017 ApJ, 838, 1

Research

Selected highlights from my research papers ...

Multiphysics Simulations for the Exascale Era

Incorporating multiple physics, mathematics, and computer science packages into one integrated code

How Dark Matter shapes First Galaxies

and how to tell if dark matter is fuzzy, warm, or cold

Turbulence Markov Model

to describe non-lognormal density distributions

Dynamical Friction

in fuzzy dark matter

Supersonic turbulence

dense structures in compressible turbulence

Solitons from early universe scalar fields

formation, gravitational clustering and interactions of solitons

Schrödinger to Vlasov

emergence of classical behavior from quantum mechanics

Axion Dark Matter

quantum turbulent properties

Star Formation

in magneto-gravo-turbulence

Primordial Magnetic Fields

in cosmological settings

Integer Lattice

for Vlasov-Poisson (6D)

Tidal Disruption Events

simulations

Moving Mesh Vector Potential CTA

for MHD

Quantum SPH

for the non-linear Schrödinger equations

Constrained Transport for MHD

on unstructured and moving meshes

Discontinuous Galerkin

on moving meshes

Tully-Fisher

for 25,000 galaxies as function of environment

Supermassive Black Holes

cosmological growth and feedback

Inverse-Compton Ghosts

powerful double-lobed radio galaxies switched off

X-ray Winds

ionization structure of Seyfert 2 galaxy IRAS 18325-5926 with Chandra

Blog

~100 line Python tutorials to intro to scientific computing, hosted on my Medium blog. Follow me for updates! My latest posts are shown below

People

Collaborators and students

(beta... Click button. It may take a few seconds to render. Interactive!)
the connections in the graph indicate co-authorships in research papers I led


Mustafa A. Amin
Rice

James Beattie
ANU

Fernando Becerra
Harvard

Katherine Blundell
Oxford

Sownak Bose
Harvard

Mike Boylan-Kolchin
UT Austin

Blakesley Burkhart
Rutgers/CCA

Pierre-Henri Chavanis
Toulouse

Pierre Christian
Fairfield University

Ben Church
Columbia

Elliot Davies
Princeton

Andy Fabian
Cambridge

Christoph Federrath
ANU

Anastasia Fialkov
Cambridge

Shy Genel
Flatiron

Cara Giovanetti
Princeton

Josep Miquel Girart
CSIC

Karl Glazebrook
Swinburne

Alyssa Goodman
Harvard

Andy Green
AAO

Lars Hernquist
Harvard

Chat Hull
NAOJ

Yoni Kahn
Illinois

Rahul Kannan
Harvard

Ralf Klessen
Heidelberg University

Shih-Ping Lai
Tsing Hua

Lachlan Lancaster
Princeton

Julia Lee
Harvard

Mariangela Lisanti
Princeton

Avi Loeb
Harvard

Max Malacari
KICP

Federico Marinacci
Bologna

Chris McKee
Berkeley

Diego Munoz
Northwestern

Jerry Ostriker
Columbia

Rudiger Pakmor
MPA-Garching

Victor Robles
Yale

Kevin Schaal
HITS

Xuejian Shen
Caltech

Debora Sijacki
Cambridge

David Spergel
Flatiron

Volker Springel
MPA-Garching

Sauro Succi
Harvard/IIT

Aaron Szasz
Perimeter

Mark Vogelsberger
MIT

Jesus Zavala
Iceland

Teaching

List of courses at Harvard for which I have served as a Teaching Fellow:

  • Astronomy 151. Astronomical Fluid Dynamics. Spring 2016
  • Applied Computation 274. Computational Fluid Dynamics. Fall 2014
  • Applied Computation 274. Computational Fluid Dynamics. Spring 2014
  • Applied Mathematics 205. Advanced Scientific Computing: Numerical Methods. Fall 2012

Outreach

List and links to selected outreach activities

Misc.

Writings, software projects, interactive modules, tutorials, mini science investigations ...

  • Medium Blog

    Interested in scientific computing? Check out my ~100 line Python tutorials on computational astro/physics at https://philip-mocz.medium.com/

  • April Fools Day arXiv Papers

    See the collection at http://april1arxiv.github.io

  • GPU Volume Rendering

    PAVOREAL (PArellel VOlume REndering ALgorithm) on GPUs

  • Interactive Mathematica Module on Shocks

    Explore the shock structure in the Euler and MHD Riemann problems

  • Cosmic-Ray Pressure MHD Instability

    Paper on my simulations of a cosmic-ray pressure gradient instability in a turbulent MHD environment at a shock interface, as part of my project for Astronomy 253 (plasma physics). Read the report (.pdf) and download the Matlab code

  • Bayesian Nested Sampling

    Bayesian nested sampling fitting of exoplanet radial velocity curve with 2 planets

  • SPH for Stellar Structure

    A simple introduction (.pdf) to smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH), and writing your own code

Contact

Philip Mocz

Computational Physicist

pmocz@flatironinstitute.org

ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0001-6631-2566

  • Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute,
  • 162 Fifth Avenue
  • New York, NY 10010, USA

Philip Mocz pronounced: