UCSB Astrophysics
Portrait of S. Peng Oh

§ 01People · Faculty

S. Peng Oh

Professor

S. Peng Oh is a theorist who studies galaxy formation and the physics of diffuse astrophysical plasmas. His work covers the circumgalactic medium, galaxy clusters and the intergalactic medium, with emphasis on cosmic rays, turbulence and multiphase gas. Topics include how cold gas clouds survive and grow in hot galactic winds, the characteristic size of cold gas, turbulent mixing layers, thermal instability in magnetized gas, and numerical methods for cosmic ray transport. He has also worked on the first luminous objects, reionization, 21 cm cosmology and the Lyman alpha forest.

He studied at the University of Chicago and Cambridge and did his graduate work at Princeton (1995 to 2000). He was a postdoc at Caltech from 2000 to 2003 before joining UCSB.

§ 02Fig. 1

Where in the universe

Range 100 kly to 10 Gly

S. Peng Oh, row of Fig. 1. The bar spans the light travel distances of the objects studied, 100 kly to 10 Gly, on a logarithmic axis from the Solar System to the cosmic microwave background. Its color is the research theme. Dotted lines mark landmarks. Fig. 1 with every faculty member

§ 03Publications

Recent papers

The newest papers with S. Peng Oh as an author, from NASA ADS. Group members are in gold.

  1. 01Oct 2026ApJ
    Particle Acceleration in Magnetized Shear-driven TurbulenceM. Liu, M. Ruszkowski, E. Zweibel, X. Sun, D. Caprioli, N. Liang, S. P. Oh, A. SpitkovskyGalaxies
    arXiv:2512.12720
  2. 02Sep 2026arXiv
    Probing the cosmic web with fast radio bursts: II. ScintillationS. Lapiner, N. Mandelker, P. Beniamini, S. P. OhGalaxies
    arXiv:2609.31106
  3. 03Aug 2026MNRAS
    A dynamical test for cooling-induced entrainment in a runaway supermassive black hole tailI. Kaul, S. P. OhGalaxies
    arXiv:2604.13155
  4. 04Aug 2026OJAp
    From Clumps to Sheets: Geometry Controls the Temperature PDF of Multi-Phase GasZ. Chen, S. P. OhGalaxies
    arXiv:2604.13154
  5. 05Aug 2026A&A
    Probing the cosmic web with fast radio bursts: I. ScatteringS. Lapiner, N. Mandelker, P. Beniamini, S. P. OhGalaxies
    arXiv:2603.22108
  6. 06Jul 2026arXiv
    Cold Stream Penetration of Virial Shocks: Fragmentation, Coagulation, and Disruption in the Hot Circumgalactic MediumZ. Yao, N. Mandelker, S. P. OhGalaxies
    arXiv:2607.14090
  7. 07Jun 2026arXiv
    Clumps in a Cocoon: Geometry and Mixing Set the Universal X-ray to Hα Surface Brightness RatioZ. Chen, S. P. Oh, D. B. Fielding, L. Lancaster, Y. Li, B. TanGalaxies
    arXiv:2606.07741
  8. 08Jun 2026ApJ
    Star Formation Histories and Stellar Dynamics in the Central Galaxies of RX J0820.9+0752, A1835, and PKS 0745−191M.-J. Gingras, B. R. McNamara, A. L. Coil, S. Perrotta, F. Brighenti, S. P. Oh, H. R. Russell, W. NingGalaxies
    arXiv:2511.01986
  9. 09May 2026MNRAS
    Modelling emission-line surface brightness in a multiphase galactic wind: an O VI case studyZ. Chen, Z. Peng, K. H. R. Rubin, T. M. Heckman, M. J. Hayes, Y. Faerman, C. L. Martin, S. P. Oh et al. (9 authors)GalaxiesCosmic dawn
    arXiv:2510.02443
  10. 10Apr 2026arXiv
    Beyond the Diffusion Coefficient: Propagators and Memory in Cosmic Ray TransportN. Liang, S. P. OhGalaxies
    arXiv:2604.11898

All papers by S. Peng Oh

Everyone in the group