Undergraduate Student of Astronomy & Astrophysics
University of Toronto · Toronto, ON
Undergraduate researcher focused on high energy astrophysics — black holes, neutron stars, quasars, and accretion physics — using numerical simulations to model the extreme environments around compact objects. I am broadly interested in how simulations compare with observational data, and how that interplay can deepen our understanding of the most energetic phenomena in the universe.
Investigating the dynamics of accreting plasma as it passes through the sonic point onto compact objects, exploring how shock structures, angular momentum transport, and relativistic effects shape the flow geometry and emission properties.
Numerically modeling the temperature structure, energy dissipation, and luminosity of thin black hole accretion disks — investigating how viscosity and mass accretion rate shape thermal profiles and spectral emission.
Using gravitational lensing convergence maps and X-ray observations to probe the distribution of non-luminous matter in galaxy clusters, and understanding how dark matter drives the large-scale structure of the universe.
Built a Shakura-Sunyaev thin accretion disk solver from first principles in Python, deriving the temperature profile, energy dissipation rate, and multi-temperature blackbody spectrum analytically before implementing them numerically. Validated the analytic scaling relations T ∝ Ṁ1/4 and T ∝ M−1/2 numerically to within 2% across four decades in black hole mass. Produced five publication-style figures demonstrating that stellar mass black holes (10 M☉) emit in soft X-rays while supermassive black holes (108 M☉) emit in the ultraviolet, consistent with observed X-ray binary and AGN spectra.
Used Python, Astropy, NumPy, and Matplotlib to find and visualize discrepancies between the total mass of the Pandora Cluster (Abell 2744) derived from kappa convergence maps and the baryonic mass inferred from Chandra X-ray photon counts — extrapolating the existence of non-luminous matter within the cluster.
HB.Sc. Astronomy & Physics Specialist, Mathematics Minor
University of Toronto
Expected graduation 2029
ROP274 — Chaos, Complexity & Emergence
University of Toronto
Simulating chaos, emergence, and complexity with applications to astrostatistics and computational astrophysics.
Languages & Tools
Courses & Training
Always happy to hear from fellow students or professors with questions or collaboration ideas.
sh.sharma@mail.utoronto.ca
ORCID
0009-0005-8746-7811
linkedin.com/in/shubhamk-sharma
GitHub
github.com/shubhamsharma-astro
// Location & Details
Open to research collaborations, study groups, and conversations about astrophysics and cosmological simulations.