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April – May – June

If a single theme defined this quarter, it was鈥�community. At the end of May, we proudly celebrated CITA鈥檚 40th anniversary, bringing together over 160 participants in person and hundreds more online from across the globe. The three-day conference听presented听forward-looking astrophysics听research but, just as much, it听felt听like a family homecoming.听We reflected on our founding ethos of collaboration and mutual support and celebrated the fact that听many听of the world鈥檚 leading tenured astrophysicists are CITA alumni. It is incredibly rewarding to see how our collaborative, theoretical approach continues to shape听the astrophysics field听worldwide.

We are immensely grateful to everyone who has made CITA the remarkable institution it is today.听Here鈥檚听to the mysteries听we’ve听solved, the community听we’ve听built, and the next 40 years of theoretical astrophysics.

CITA@40: Celebrating 40 Years of Theoretical Astrophysics

05/27/2026: The Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) marked its 40th anniversary at the University of Toronto at the end of May, bringing together astrophysicists from around the world for a three-day conference celebrating four decades of research,听training听and collaboration. More than 160 participants attended in person, with hundreds more joining online. The conference featured 87 speakers from 15 countries 鈥� including many former CITA postdoctoral fellows and graduate students who returned to share new research and reconnect with colleagues. A recurring theme throughout the celebratory event was the importance of academic community 鈥� with many attendees describing CITA as both a research hub and a formative 鈥渉ome鈥� during their early academic careers. Words like 鈥渇amily鈥� and 鈥渉omecoming鈥� were scattered through narratives of youthful times, full of enthusiasm for science and fun with friends.听CITA Director听听opened the conference by welcoming participants and reflecting on the institute鈥檚 history. He noted that this meeting 鈥渂rings together the three pillars of CITA: members of听the听CITA flagship in Toronto, the national network of affiliate faculty, and the global network of CITA alumni.鈥�

U of T President Melanie Woodin highlighted CITA鈥檚 global reputation and paid tribute to the leadership of its founders,听Professors Richard Henriksen and鈥�Peter Martin, as well as its first directors, Scott Tremaine and鈥�Dick Bond.

Today, a significant percentage of the world’s leading tenured astrophysicists (more than 130) are CITA alumni, who have passed through the institute during their formative postdoctoral years. They carry CITA鈥檚 highly collaborative, theoretical approach to universities across the globe.

Back in Toronto for the CITA@40 conference, former postdoctoral fellows were happy to reunite with old friends and reminisce about the good times they had together.听Testimonies were shared by CITA alumni both in person and through individual video recordings:

Bernard Carr, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary University of London, reflected in his video message on the first Kingston meeting he attended in 1986. His reminiscences of CITA highlighted both the lasting friendships he formed and his proud scientific collaboration with Dick Bond. He reflected on both the happy and the sad times he experienced at听CITA, and听reminded us to “remember those who played such an important role in CITA’s scientific achievements.”听

Doug Johnstone, current听President’s Science Advisor and PREAC Secretary at the National Research Council of Canada, (CITA postdoc in 1995) also shared in a video greeting: 鈥淭he support of the CITA family was crucial for my decision to stay in the field. CITA was a fantastic place for us, and I hope it still is for the current CITA postdocs.听While at CITA, I got to know Shantanu Basu very well. We built our own research听niche听that began with听a听star formation conference. We did a second version of it last year. It has been a joy to听work with Shantanu ever since the 90s.”

John Lattanzio听and听Mike Fitchett听鈥� the first two CITA postdoctoral fellows听who听joined in 1985鈥� also sent a very long video greeting with highlights from the dawn of times, when 鈥渆veryone did extra jobs鈥�,听鈥渆veryone dressed very formally鈥�,听and Peter Martin was an Acting Director, but 鈥渉e did more acting than directing, and we all loved him!鈥�.听鈥淲e did a lot of science and had great fun together鈥�,听said John and Mike, and recommended the same approach to postdocs for years to come – 鈥淗ave fun and do good science!鈥�

Andrew听Jaffe, professor at Imperial College, shared in his video message that 鈥淐ITA was, and still is,听a great place for postdocs to听become independent researchers.鈥澨齊eflecting on his scientific career, he spoke about his work听analyzing CMB data and added听鈥渦nderstanding Dick鈥檚 work over the years has been an honor and a pleasure听of my scientific career鈥�.

Zhiqi Huang, Professor in Sun Yat-sen University expressed his gratitude to all听CITAzens, with special thanks to his mentors Dick Bond and Lev Kofman, 鈥淭heir passion and curiosity have kept me on a听life-long听journey of discovery鈥�.

Henk Hoekstra, professor in Leiden University, and his wife听Melanie, a former CITA staff member, visited CITA shortly before the event. In their video message, they shared that 鈥渟o many memories came back鈥�,听reflecting 鈥済reat time at CITA back 25 years ago鈥�.

Margaret Fukunaga, CITA’s founding staff member, reflected in her letter to听CITAzens听that her role was to “assure the faculty members who were serving as director that the administrative machine was strong and could keep on carrying CITA.” She expressed her gratitude to the faculty members for their trust in the business officers and in her successors.听Along with recalling many memorable and enjoyable moments at CITA, Margaret highlighted what she considered her greatest accomplishment: “to see a postdoc return to CITA as the Interim Director鈥�.

A heartfelt thank you to all the alumni who traveled from near and far to join us for CITA@40! Hearing your stories from the institute鈥檚 early days and watching old friends and former colleagues reunite was a moving testament to the community we have built together over the last four decades. We are incredibly grateful for your warm notes of congratulations and for听remaining听such an integral part of the CITA family.

For those who were unable to attend the conference and/or banquet, we invite you to revisit the celebration through the鈥�photos鈥痗aptured during the event. You can also enjoy鈥痑听video鈥痜rom听CITAzens听around the world who were unable to join us in person.

Research and Publication Highlights

4/1/2026:听New Study Finds Evidence of Cosmic Explosions with Missing Black Holes

In a paper just published in听, CITA researchers Professor听Maya Fishbach听and postdoctoral fellows听Aditya Vijaykumar听and Amanda Farah, confirm that black holes with masses larger than 45 times the mass of the sun are the result of previous black hole mergers, rather than the collapse of enormous dying stars.

4/16/2026:听How a Cosmic Cloud Becomes a Solar System: Scientists Discover the 鈥淓nDTranZ鈥� Missing Link

An international team of researchers鈥攊ncluding CITA鈥檚 Interim Director,听Shantanu Basu鈥攈as just published groundbreaking findings in the鈥疉strophysical Journal鈥痶hat solve a decades-old mystery in star formation.听We鈥檝e long known that planets form in flat, spinning disks of gas and dust around young stars. But exactly鈥痟ow鈥痶he material falling from the massive outer cloud “hits the brakes” and organizes into a stable, spinning disk has been a major puzzle.听Led by听Dr. Indrani Das听at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, the team discovered the missing link:鈥疎nDTranZ鈥� (Envelope Disk Transition Zone).

6/3/2026:听Supercomputer Reveals How Exploding Stars 鈥淪tir鈥� the Galaxy from the Bottom Up

New research performed on the鈥疶rillium/SciNet Supercomputer鈥痑t the University of Toronto reveals a fundamentally different mechanism by which exploding stars shape the turbulent structure of our galaxy. The study, authored by鈥疍r. James Beattie, postdoctoral fellow at CITA, was accepted for publication in鈥�. It challenges long-standing assumptions about how turbulence is generated and sustained in the interstellar medium.

6/26/2026:听

Microlensing surveys have discovered plenty of regular exoplanets, but more surprisingly,听they鈥檝e听also turned up many solo Neptunes with no star nearby.鈥疶hat听there are more free-ranging Neptunes than stars听is听unsettling, and astronomers听aren鈥檛听sure how听so听many planets ended up听isolated.鈥疦ew research by听Sam Hadden听(CITA) and听Yanqin听Wu听(University of Toronto) presents an alternative idea: what if at least some of these free-floating planets aren鈥檛 fully on their听own, but听remain听weakly bound to their parent stars?听The paper 鈥淔ree Floating or Merely听Detached?,鈥� by Sam Hadden and听Yanqin听Wu听was recently featured by听AAS Nova:听2026鈥�ApJ鈥�.鈥�

Events and Workshops

4/17/2026:听In mid-April CITA welcomed听听鈥� a group of 32 undergraduate students, all majoring in astronomy at the听University of Groningen听in the Netherlands. The visitors travelled across the ocean to meet with CITA researchers and learn about current projects at the institute.听Designated听hosts were听CITA Graduate student听Alicia Savelli听and听Postdoctoral Fellows听Vera Delfavero,听Sebastiano D. von Fellenberg听and听Biprateep Dey.

5/4/2026:听Welcoming the new cohort of听SURFers听(Summer Undergraduate Student Fellows) at the听Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics听today. Supervisors and students are excited to meet and start planning their research collaborations. Summer is starting!
Supervisors this year are听Shantanu Basu, Pratika Dayal,听Rohan Dahale,听Radhika Achikanath Chirakkara,听Haowen Zhang,听Sebastiano D. von Fellenberg,听Yanlong Shi.

Director Shantanu Basu greeting the 2026 SURF cohort.

Aditya Vijaykumar and Amanda Farah, CITA Postdoctoral Fellows and organisers of GWTC-6.

4/20/2026: 35 of the world鈥檚 leading experts in gravitational astronomy gathered at the CITA Flagship in Toronto for the听GWTC-6: The Bleeding Edge of Gravitational-Wave Populations听鈥� a three-day workshop that took place between April 20 and 22. Researchers from Europe, Australia, UK, US, and Canada have been diving deep into recently released data sets, providing real-time feedback on preliminary results, and charting out new pathways to align theoretical models with observations. A huge thank you to the driving forces behind this event, our organizers: Amanda Farah and Aditya Vijaykumar are the main organizers of the ‘GWTC-6: The Bleeding Edge of Gravitational-wave Populations’, along with faculty members Maya Fishbach and Reed Essick.

Other CITA Supported Conferences in Q2:

June 4-5, 2026: 听Sampling, Simulation, and Scientific Discovery, University of Toronto. Organizers: Reed Essick, Maya Fishbach, Josh Speagle.

June 19-20, 2026: , McGill University. Organizers: Simon Caron-Huot, Robert Brandenberger, Manu Paranjape.

June 29 鈥� July 3, 2026: , Universit茅 de Montr茅al. Organizers: Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo, Martin Bureau, Daryl Haggard.

Distinctions and Awards

4/28/2026: Congratulations to CITA Inc member Professor , University of Victoria, who was recently recognized by as the 2026 recipient of the Carlyle S. Beals Award for outstanding scientific achievement. Professor Babul is a world-renowned leader in physical cosmology, known for his work on the assembly, evolution, and physics of galaxy groups and clusters. Throughout his career, Professor Babul has contributed to several ground-breaking discoveries which have reshaped the field of cosmology, including being one of the first to recognize that radiation from early stars and quasars could significantly influence the evolution of cosmic structures.

4/28/2026: Congratulations to CITA Inc member Professor Michel (Mike) Fich, who was announced by听听as the recipient of the听2026 Dunlap Award听for Innovation in Astronomical Research Tools.听This award recognizes his sustained and visionary leadership in developing and ensuring Canadian participation in groundbreaking infrared and mm-scale astronomical instrumentation.

6/26/2026:听Congratulations to CITA graduate student听听and a Junior Fellow at听听for听receiving听this year鈥檚听Van Kranendonk Teaching Assistant Award听from the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto.听The award听reflects听not only strong subject听expertise, but also the ability to inspire, support, and elevate the student learning experience, an impact that often extends far beyond the classroom.