Rasmus Damgaard Nielsen

Rasmus Damgaard Nielsen is a PhD Fellow at the Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) within the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen. His research focuses on astrophysical transients, particularly kilonovae and r-process nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers.

His primary research interests include multi-messenger astronomy, gravitational wave events, and spectroscopic analysis of cosmic transients. Nielsen investigates the temporal evolution of kilonova emissions and the formation of heavy elements through r-process nucleosynthesis, with emphasis on time-domain observations and spectral modeling. His work bridges observational astronomy with nuclear astrophysics to understand cosmic chemical evolution.

Nielsen's recent publications analyze the kilonova AT2017gfo (electromagnetic counterpart to GW170817), revealing critical insights through hour-by-hour spectral evolution tracking. His research demonstrates inconsistencies in helium feature interpretations and documents the emergence of r-process signatures, advancing models of neutron star merger ejecta. These studies contribute significantly to multi-messenger astronomy and the understanding of heavy element origins.

As a PhD Fellow at the Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Nielsen operates within a collaborative research environment focused on early universe phenomena. The center provides infrastructure for high-precision astronomical observations and theoretical modeling, supporting his work on transient events through access to international telescope networks and computational resources.