Chris Choi (최민영)

I am a 1st-year PhD student studying Physics at Carnegie Mellon University, which I started in the fall of 2023. I graduated from CMU with a Bachelors in Physics and a minor in Math in 2024. I am currently advised by Prof. Tina Kahniashvili.

Background

I am originally from South Korea, and grew up in New York City. My parents are from Jeollabuk-do, but I myself was born in Seoul.

General Interests

I enjoy reading hard sci-fi novels and short stories, such as those by Greg Egan, Liu Cixin, Neal Stephenson, and Peter Watts. You can check out my Goodreads account. I also love listening to music, especially the genre of prog rock and prog metal. I really enjoy retro prog rock from Sweden, with bands such as Moon Safari, A.C.T., Kaipa, Karmakanic, The Flower Kings, and Brighteye Brison. I also enjoy consuming anime in my free time. I am also competitive speedcuber, with a focus on FTO (Face-Turning Octahedron). I also enjoy drawing in my spare time. My portfolio can be found on my art instagram.

Research Interests

My research explores how we can utilize the theory of gravitational waves to explore and constrain theoretical cosmology models, particularly massive gravity. I also utilize pulsar timing array data to gain information about the gravitational wave background, and potentially explain it with new theories of cosmology and gravity. In the recent past, my group used a time-dependent model of massive gravity, specifically one known as the minimal theory of massive gravity, to explain the stochastic gravitational wave background detected by NANOGrav in their 15-year dataset. There is a possibility that its source is of cosmological origin, because the astrophysical explanation falls short of being able to explain the background. I am also interested in the ways gravitational waves can be altered by free-streaming neutrinos, something I previously investigated. We explored the possibility of establishing a particular damping amplitude and comparing the results with previous work. Currently, I am working on analyzing the additional polarization from massive gravity and how it modifies the overlap reduction function.