Since joining Professor Mark Krumholz’s team under the Laureate Fellowship in August 2023, my primary research focus has been the development of the QUOKKA hydrodynamics code (https://github.com/quokka-astro/quokka). This open-source collaborative project, initiated by Prof. Mark Krumholz and Dr. Ben Wibking in 2021, aims to revolutionise our understanding of galactic outflows through GPU-accelerated high-resolution, high physical realism simulations.
I have made several key contributions that have significantly advanced the capabilities and impact of the QUOKKA code:
- Development of a multi-frequency radiation hydrodyanmics module: I designed and implemented a module that enables the calculation of radiation frequency-dependent astrophysical phenomena optimised for GPU architectures, addressing a major limitation in previous codes (He, Wibking & Krumholz 2024).
- Novel numerical scheme for radiation-matter interaction: I developed a robust numerical scheme that accurately models the interaction between radiation and matter across both optically-thin and optically-thick regimes, eliminating the need for artificial corrections and ensuring reliability in intermediate regimes (He, Wibking & Krumholz 2024).
- Particle framework for star formation and feedback: I designed and built the particle framework in QUOKKA and implemented a novel, efficient particle-mesh interaction scheme optimised for GPU. This represents the first implementation of a sink particle prescription in a GPU-based code, positioning QUOKKA at the forefront of code for star formation and galaxy evolution (He et al. 2025 in prep.).