Theoretical Astrophysics: blue stragglers, tidal physics, asteroseismology, binary and stellar evolution, binary population synthesis

08/2012 ~ 06/2018, Ph.D in Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Ph.D Thesis: Pulsating White Dwarfs and Orbital Decay in Binaries

Adivsor: Phil Arras

09/2008 ~ 06/2012, B.S. in Physics (Honors Class), Wuyuzhang Honorary College, College of Physics, Sichuan University, China

Sun, Meng; Xia, Hongbo*; Gossage, Seth; Kalegera, Vicky, and 4 more, “Tides in Massive Binaries: Numerical Solutions and Semi-Analytical Comparisons”, 2026, ApJ, 998, 32;

Sun, Meng; Townsend, R. H. D; Xia, Hongbo*; Numerical Non-Adiabatic Tidal Calculations with GYRE-tides: The WASP-12 Test Case, 2025, ApJL, 995, 29;

Sun, Meng; Gossage, Seth; Leiner, Emily M.; Geller, Aaron M., “Stellar Spin Down in Post-Mass Transfer Binary Systems”, 2024, ApJ, 971, 80;

Sun, Meng; Levina, Sasha*; Gossage, Seth; Kalogera, Vicky, and 3 more, “The Effects of Wind Roche-lobe Overflow in Binary Evolution”, 2024, ApJ, 969, 8;

Byran, Jared; de Wit, Julien; Sun, Meng and 2 more, "The coevolution of migrating planets and their pulsating stars through episodic resonance locking", 2024, Nature Astronomy, 8, 1387;

Townsend, R. H. D.; Sun, Meng, “Discrepant Approaches to Modeling Stellar Tides, and the Breakdown of Pseudosynchronization”, 2023, ApJ, 953, 48;

Sun, Meng; Townsend, R. H. D.; Guo, Zhao, “gyre_tides: Modeling binary tides within the gyre stellar oscillation code”, 2023, ApJ, 945, 43;

Sun, Meng; Mathieu, Robert D., “WOCS 4540: Detailed Analysis of a Very Long Orbital Period Blue Straggler”, 2023, ApJ, 944, 89;

Sun, Meng; Mathieu, Robert D.; Leiner, Emily M.; Townsend, R. H. D., “WOCS 5379: Detailed Analysis of the Evolution of a Post-Mass-Transfer Blue Straggler”, 2021, ApJ, 908, 7;

Sun, Meng; Arras, Phil; Weinberg, Nevin N.; Troup, Nicholas W.; Majewski, Steven R., “Orbital Decay in Binaries Containing Post-Main Sequence Stars”, 2018, MNRAS, 481, 4077;

Sun, Meng; Arras, Phil; “Formation of Extremely Low-Mass White Dwarfs Binaries”, 2018, ApJ, 858, 14;

Weinberg, Nevin N.; Sun, Meng; Arras, Phil; Essick, Reed; “Tidal dissipation in WASP-12”, 2017, ApJL, 849, L11.

*Student advised

Publication List: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/user/libraries/2iixJZrrR0ys2Q6_d38Tyw

2026: Workshop on Stellar and Planetary Physics (Shanghai, China); Cluster-Asteroseismology Synergies in the Era of Space Missions (Beijing, China);

2025: Star Cluster Meeting (Dali, Yunnan, China); Astronomy for Open Science Conference (Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China); 56th DDA Meeting (Atlanta, GA, USA); CCA Stable Mass Transfer 2.0 Workshop (New York City, NY, USA); Cosmic Change Agents: Massive Stars in the Early Universe (Aspen, CO, USA); Earth 2.0 Science Meeting (Shanghai, China); Binary Stars in New Era (Lijiang, Yunnan, China);

2024: Shen-Kuo Meeting (Wuhan, Hubei, China); CCA Stable Mass Transfer Workshop (New York City, NY, USA); MESA down under School (Sydney, Australia); Cool Stars 22 (San Diego, CA, USA); ERES IX Symposium (Ithaca, NY, USA);

2023: POSYDON Collaboration Meeting (Gainesville, FL, USA); Aspen Center for Physics Winter Program 'Exoplanet Systems and Stellar Life Cycles' (Aspen, CO, USA); APS April Meeting (Minneapolis, MN, USA); MODEST-23 (Evanston, IL, USA);

2022: KITP Binary Conference (Santa Barbara, CA, USA).

Visiting Scholar at CIERA, Northwestern University