Ka-Wah Wong

Email: kwong@ua.edu
Phone: (205) 348-2065
Fax: (205) 348-5051
Office: 324 Gallalee Hall
Address:
   Department of Physics & Astronomy
   Box 870324
   University of Alabama
   Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0324

n3115
NGC 3115
X-ray (blue): NASA/CXC/Univ. of Alabama/K.Wong et al, Optical (orange): ESO/VLT

Welcome to my simple homepage!

Ka-Wah is a postdoc.

Education:

2005-2010, PhD, Astronomy, University of Virginia (Advisor: Prof. C. L. Sarazin)
2003-2005, MSc, Astronomy, University of Virginia (Advisor: Prof. C. L. Sarazin)
2001-2003, MPhil, Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Advisor: Prof. M. -C. Chu)
1998-2001, BSc, Physics, (with Minor in Math.), The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Research Interests:

Theoretical and Observational Astrophysics
Numerical Simulations
Non-Thermal, Non-Equilibrium, and Kinetic Processes in Astrophysics
X-ray and Radio Astronomy
Clusters of Galaxies, Large Scale Structures, and Cosmology
Bondi Accretion
Early Type Galaxies
Low Mass X-ray Binaries
Compact objects
Formation of Compact Stars
Tubulence Experiment in Rayleigh Benard Cell

News Media:

  1. NASA's Chandra Observatory Images Gas Flowing Toward Black Hole, 2011, Chandra Press Release , also featured in NASA Physics of the Cosmos Newsletters (2011, Vol. 1, No. 1)

Publications:

  1. Resolving the Bondi Accretion Flow toward the Supermassive Black Hole of NGC 3115 with Chandra , Wong, Ka-Wah, Irwin, Jimmy A., Yukita, Mihoko, Million, Evan T., Mathews, William G., & Bregman, Joel N. 2011 ApJ, 736, L23 ( astro-ph arXiv:1106.3069)
  2. PhD Thesis: The Role of Non-Equilibrium Processes in Galaxy Clusters, University of Virginia (2010), K.-W. Wong
  3. X-ray Signatures of Non-Equilibrium Ionization Effects in Galaxy Cluster Accretion Shock Regions , Ka-Wah Wong, Craig L. Sarazin, and Li Ji, 2011, ApJ, 727, 126 (astro-ph arXiv:1012.0039)
  4. The Impact of Non-equipartition on Cosmological Parameter Estimation from Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Surveys , Ka-Wah Wong, Craig L. Sarazin, and Daniel R. Wik 2010, ApJ, 719, 1 (astro-ph arXiv:1006.0262)
  5. Effects of the Non-Equipartition of Electrons and Ions in the Outskirts of Relaxed Galaxy Clusters, Ka-Wah Wong, and Craig L. Sarazin, 2009, ApJ, 707, 1141 (astro-ph arXiv:0910.5227)
  6. XMM-Newton and Chandra Observations of Abell 2626: Interacting Radio Jets and Cooling Core with Jet Precession?, Ka-Wah Wong, Craig L. Sarazin, Elizabeth L. Blanton, and Thomas H. Reiprich, 2008, ApJ, 682, 155 (astro-ph arXiv:0803.1772).
  7. Class Project for radio class, Fall 2004 (unpublished): Monte Carlo Simulation of CHVC Distributions (Advisor: Prof. W. B. Burton).
  8. Master Thesis: Properties of Strange Stars, CUHK (2003), K. -W. Wong.
  9. Cooling of a New Born Compact Star with QCD Phase Transition, K. -W. Wong, M. -C. Chu, Phys. Rev. D 70, 063004 (2004) (or astro-ph/0405601 ).
  10. Signatures of QCD Phase Transition in a Newborn Compact Star, K. -W. Wong, M. -C. Chu, MNRAS 350 (2004) L42 (or astro-ph/0304515).

Recent Professional Presentations:

  1. 219th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, oral presentation, Austin, TX, 8-12 January 2012
  2. SZX Huntsville 2011: Cosmology with X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Observations of Galaxy Clusters, poster presentation, Huntsville, AL, 19-11 September, 2011.
  3. 12th High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) Meeting, oral presentation, Newport, RI, 7-10, September, 2011.
  4. Monsters, Inc.: Astrophysics and Cosmology with Galaxy Clusters Conference, poster presentation, Santa Barbara, CA, 14-18 March 2011.
  5. Astrophysics Talk, oral presentation: Non-Equilibrium Processes in Relaxed Galaxy Cluster Outskirts, Department of Physics, Virginia Tech, VA, 2 Apr, 2010.
  6. 11th High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) Meeting, poster presentation: Non-Equilibrium Processes in Relaxed Galaxy Cluster Outskirts, Big Island, HI, 1-4 March, 2010.
  7. 215th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, oral presentation: X-ray and SZ Signatures of the Non-Equipartition between Electrons and Ions in the Envelopes of Relaxed Galaxy Clusters, Washington, DC, 3-7 January 2010.
  8. Chandras First Decade of Discovery, poster presentation: Effects of the Non-Equipartition of Electrons and Ions in the Outskirts of Relaxed Galaxy Clusters, Boston, MA, 21-25 September 2009.
  9. Physics Seminar, oral presentation: Effect of Non-Equipartition of Electrons and Ions in Envelopes of Galaxy Clusters on SZ Measurements, Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 5 May 2009.
  10. The Warm & Hot Universe, poster presentation: Electron and Ion Equilibration by Coulomb Collisions in the Envelopes of Galaxy Clusters, Columbia University, New York City, NY, May 7-9, 2008.
  11. 10th High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) Meeting, poster presentation: XMM-Newton and Chandra Observations of Abell 2626: Interacting Radio Jets and Cooling Core with Jet Precession?, Los Angeles, CA, 31 March - 3 April 2008.
  12. 207th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, poster presentation: XMM-Newton and Chandra Observations of Abell 2626, Washington, DC, 8-12 January 2006.

Talks:

  1. Resolving the Bondi Accretion Flow toward the Supermassive Black Hole of NGC 3115 with Chandra, 219th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Austin, TX, 8-12 January 2012
  2. Resolving the Bondi Accretion Flow toward the Supermassive Black Hole of NGC 3115 with Chandra, 12th High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) Meeting, Newport, RI, 7-10, September, 2011
  3. Non-Equilibrium Processes in Relaxed Galaxy Cluster Outskirts, Astrophysics Talk, Virginia Tech, VA, Apr 2, 2010
  4. X-ray and SZ Signatures of the Non-Equipartition between Electrons and Ions in the Envelopes of Relaxed Galaxy Clusters, 215th AAS Meeting, Washington, DC, Jan 3-7, 2010
  5. Effect of Non-Equipartition of Electrons and Ions in Envelopes of Galaxy Clusters on SZ Measurements, Physics Seminar, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, May 5, 2009
  6. Evolution of SZ Signatures due to Nonequipartition between Electrons and Ions, UVa Research Symposium, Jan 23, 2009
  7. Calculation of Electron and Ion Equilibration by Coulomb Collisions in Envelopes of Galaxy Clusters, UVa Research Symposium, Jan 25, 2008
  8. Anomalous Effects in Envelopes of Clusters of Galaxies, UVa Research Symposium, Feb 2, 2007
  9. XMM-Newton and Chandra Observations of Abell 2626: Interaction of Cooling Flow and Radio Sources and Future Directions, UVa Research Symposium, Feb 3, 2006
  10. Cooling of a New Born Compact Star with QCD Phase Transition, UVa Research Symposium, Feb 4, 2005.

Hobbies:

Soccer, hiking, wild camping, star-gazing, archery, sleeping, reading, softball ...