Qinan Wang

Qinan Wang’s research interest focuses on the progenitor and explosion mechanism of extragalactic transients, with a focus on various types of supernovae. His work utilizes the high cadence light curves from the space-based survey telescopes, including the Kepler, TESS and upcoming ULTRASAT satellites, to study the early-time evolution of these transients on short timescales, such as the early excess of Type Ia supernovae, and the shock breakout and cooling of core-collapse supernovae.  Those early features are important evidence unraveling the progenitors and explosion mechanisms of those explosive events, and can largely deepen our understandings on the final fate of the stars, as well as systematics in supernovae cosmology. Before coming to MIT, Qinan earned his B.Sc. in Physics/Mathematics from the University of Hong Kong and PhD from the Johns Hopkins University.