Daniel Siegel

Education and Employment Background

Dr. Daniel Siegel received his Doctor rerum naturalium (PhD equivalent) from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics and the University of Potsdam in 2015. He went on to work as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Center for Theoretical Physics and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory at Columbia University in late 2015. From 2016 to 2019, Siegel was a NASA Einstein Fellow at the Center for Theoretical Physics and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory at Columbia University. He joined the Department of Physics at the University of Guelph in May 2019 and is jointly appointed with the Perimeter institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo.

Research Themes

A unifying theme of Siegel’s research is the pursuit to connect fundamental physics with the cosmos.  He is excited about the emerging field of multimessenger and gravitational-wave astronomy with gravitational-wave observatories, their partner facilities in the electromagnetic band, and the astroparticle sector. His research covers a broad range of topics, including gravitational physics, nuclear astrophysics, high-energy astrophysics, and transient astronomy. Much of Siegel’s research centers around unraveling the fundamental physics and astrophysics of compact binary mergers involving neutron stars, it elucidates how such mergers and other astrophysical phenomena synthesize heavy elements in the Universe, and it reflects on the broader impacts for nuclear physics and astrophysics, and cosmology. To study these prime targets of multi-messenger astronomy, Siegel performs fully general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of astrophysical systems on supercomputers, including microphysical equations of state, weak interactions, neutrino radiation transport, and nuclear reaction networks, in combination with analytical and semi-analytical modeling.

Highlights

• >$1 million equivalent value in supercomputer allocations with NASA and Compute Canada
• NASA Einstein Postdoctoral Fellowship, NASA, 2016-2019
• Member of the Canadian Association of Physicists and its Division of Theoretical Physics, 2019-present
• Member of Canadian Astronomical Society, 2019-present
• Member of German Physical Society, 2005-present

Media Coverage

Gold and heavy elements

• CEPS Research Highlight: Space - The Origins of Gold
• Inside the Perimeter: A new spin on where gold comes from
• University of Guelph News: Earth’s Heavy Metals Result of Supernova Explosion, U of G Researcher Discovers
• APS Physics Magazine: Out of Neutron Star Rubble Comes Gold
• Space.com: Whirling 'Collapsar' Stars Gave Universe Its Gold

Perimeter Institute

• Exchange Magazine: Introducing three new associate faculty at Perimeter Institute

Podcasts

• Gryphons and Gluons Podcast: Episode 7, Neutron star collisions with Dr. Daniel Siegel