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What do you get when you cross four physics students, two mysterious black holes, and a whole lot of difficult math? A summer of shadow-chasing, energy-extracting, brain-bending fun.

Led by Professor Shanshan Rodriguez, this Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) group is spending the summer diving deep into black hole phenomenology — where astrophysics theory meets real observational data — and forming a tight-knit academic family along the way.

Connor McMillin ’26 and Lotus Liu ’27 are modeling how plasma around rotating black holes can impact the size and shape of the black hole shadow.  

“We’re calculating the path of photons emitted from behind the black hole and then modeling how the inclusion of different astronomical phenomena (plasma, presence of dark matter, black hole spin) change the paths and therefore the shadow,” McMillin explains.  

Evan Shen ’27 and Owen Gartlan ’27 are collaborating on an investigation of the intriguing occurrence of superradiance in black holes.  

“In the extreme environments of rotating black holes, there is an interesting phenomenon where a wave can enter the ergoregion around the black hole, rotate with it, and be flung away with more energy than it started with,” Gartlan says.

Shen adds, “Superradiance is a way of extracting energy from black holes.”

Shen and Gartlan model the amount of energy gained (amplification factor) under different conditions, such as the presence of dark matter or the use of a modified theory of gravity. The students then compare them to the well-known theory of Einstein’s general relativity.  

Getting Grounded in Theory

For most people, black holes are so otherworldly that they seem almost impossible to understand, but for these students, the projects are a way to return to the basics. Most of them worked on projects throughout the school year that focused on an alternate theory of gravity (Thomas-Whitehead, or TW, gravity). These MAPs are mostly based on general relativity, which is more foundational.  

Shen and Liu wanted to ground what they had learned in their classes in a more common understanding of the universe. Liu says, “I was pretty interested in learning something more fundamental about general relativity before moving on to a more extended version of the theories.”

Gartlan elaborates, saying he had conducted some previous research experience where he was introduced to gravitational physics, but is excited to complete a more tangible project. In fact, all the students are intrigued by the ability to apply theory and practice skills they have been learning for these projects.  

An Academic Family

The students also enjoy being part of a tight-knit group of people working in the same area. In fact, they say it feels like a little academic family. McMillin and Shen worked on a project with Vincent Rodgers at the University of Iowa, who happens to be the Ph.D. adviser to Leo Rodriguez and Tyler Grover. When Grover joined the ɬ�﷬ faculty, Liu reached out and connected both herself and Gartlan to the group. Garlan says, “I wouldn’t know about any of this without Lotus.”

“So basically, all of us are academic brothers and sisters. It's all connected,” Shanshan Rodriguez says.  

Not only are they interested in the same physics problems, but they support each other throughout the entire research process. They work as a team to find citations, break down mathematics and coding, and consistently give feedback as they present ongoing results.  

So Much Literature

It’s fortunate the students work together so closely, even if it’s to commiserate about the less glamorous parts of the research process. Each student laments the intense literature reviews they’ve done before getting to the actual models of their projects.  

In many scientific fields, but especially in theoretical physics, there is an assumed level of knowledge for research papers. This means researchers will make claims or use equations without explaining why or where they come from, which makes it challenging to reproduce the work carefully.  

“It’s not trivial to reproduce these papers because people are going to write like people and there are going to be holes. But that’s why we reproduce work. This is an essential part of academics,” Gartlan says.

Shen continues, “I think we’re learning a lot of research skills, because in the paper we’re trying to reproduce, there is only one sentence for the statement or equation, so we have to use many different resources like other papers, textbooks, or friends.”

“After we get through that, we commonly discovered the problem was a lot simpler than we thought it was. So, seeing that hard work pay off almost immediately is really cool,” says McMillin. While the process might be frustrating, it leads to a much deeper understanding of the concepts and, therefore, better models that can be used in future research.  

Reflecting on the experience of the MAPs and the students’ impressive work, Rodriguez says, “I chose them because I thought they would enjoy the challenge, and I think I made the right choice.”