Richard Mushotzky is a  Professor in the Department of Astronomy. His recent research has focused on understanding the triggering mechanisms in active galaxies (why some massive black holes are accreting and other are not), the nature of ultra-luminous x-ray sources and whether they are intermediate black holes, the evolution of active galaxies across cosmic time, the nature of the innermost regions around supermasive black holes and the physics of clusters of galaxies and their use as tracers of metal production in the universe. He is a member of the Astro-H science team, a new x-ray spectroscopic observatory being prepared for launch in 2014  and has been involved in numerous high energy astrophysics missions most recently Swift, Chandra, XMM and Suzaku.

Research Projects

• Using the Swift hard x-ray survey to find and study active galaxies in the local universe
• Optical imaging and spectra of hard x-ray selected AGN to determine the triggering mechanism for AGN activity
• X-ray spectroscopy of clusters and groups of galaxies to determine their mass and chemical composition
• Timing and spectral studies of ultra-luminous x-ray sources
• Infrared spectral studies of x-ray selected AGN to measure unique spectral signatures of AGN activity
• Studies of the evolution of active galaxies across cosmic time

Notable Publications

• 2005AJ....129..578 Barger, A. J.; Cowie, L. L.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Yang, Y.; Wang, W.-H.; Steffen, A. T.; Capak, P.
  The Cosmic Evolution of Hard X-Ray-selected Active Galactic Nuclei
• 2001MNRAS.321L..20 Fabian, A. C.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Nulsen, P. E. J.; Peterson, J. R.
  On the soft X-ray spectrum of cooling flow
• 2003ApJ...586L..61S Strohmayer, Tod E.; Mushotzky, Richard F.
  Discovery of X-Ray Quasi-periodic Oscillations from an Ultraluminous X-Ray Source in M82: Evidence against Beaming
• 2005ApJ...633L..77M Markwardt, C. B.; Tueller, J.; Skinner, G. K.; Gehrels, N.; Barthelmy, S. D.; Mushotzky, R. F.
  The Swift/BAT High-Latitude Survey: First Results