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Publications

Papers & preprints

A complete list of my 33 published and submitted papers. For the most up-to-date list, see my Google Scholar or NASA ADS library.

First-author papers

11 papers where I led the research and writing.

  1. 2026
    Lumina

    Introducing the Lumina project: large-volume radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of the epochs of hydrogen and helium reionization

    Oliver Zier, Aaron Smith, Xuejian Shen, Rongrong Liu, Rahul Kannan, Sonja M. Koehler, Volker Springel, Rüdiger Pakmor, Mark Vogelsberger, Teodora-Elena Bulichi, Lars Hernquist

    submitted to MNRAS arXiv ADS
  2. 2025
    Reionization

    The THESAN-ZOOM project: Population III star formation continues until the end of reionization

    Oliver Zier, Rahul Kannan, Aaron Smith, Ewald Puchwein, Mark Vogelsberger, Josh Borrow, Enrico Garaldi, Laura Keating, William McClymont, Xuejian Shen, Lars Hernquist

    MNRAS 544, 410–429 arXiv ADS DOI
  3. 2025
    Reionization

    The THESAN-ZOOM project: Long-term imprints of external reionization on galaxy evolution

    Oliver Zier, Rahul Kannan, Aaron Smith, Ewald Puchwein, Mark Vogelsberger, Josh Borrow, Enrico Garaldi, Laura Keating, William McClymont, Xuejian Shen, Lars Hernquist

    MNRAS 544, 391–409 arXiv ADS DOI
  4. 2024
    HPC / GPU

    Adapting AREPO-RT for exascale computing: GPU acceleration and efficient communication

    Oliver Zier, Rahul Kannan, Aaron Smith, Mark Vogelsberger, Erkin Verbeek

    MNRAS 533, 268–286 arXiv ADS DOI Journal
  5. 2024
    Non-ideal MHD

    Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics on a moving mesh II: Hall effect

    Oliver Zier, Alexander C. Mayer, Volker Springel

    MNRAS 527, 8355–8368 arXiv ADS DOI Journal
  6. 2024
    Non-ideal MHD

    Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics on a moving mesh I: Ohmic and ambipolar diffusion

    Oliver Zier, Volker Springel, Alexander C. Mayer

    MNRAS 527, 1563–1579 arXiv ADS DOI Journal
  7. 2023
  8. 2022
    Numerical Methods

    Simulating cold shear flows on a moving mesh

    Oliver Zier, Volker Springel

    MNRAS 515, 525–542 arXiv ADS DOI Journal
  9. 2021
    Star Formation

    On the Interaction of a Bonnor–Ebert Sphere with a Stellar Wind

    Oliver Zier, Andreas Burkert, Christian Alig

  10. 2019
    Fluid Dynamics

    On low-Prandtl-number convection in an inclined layer of liquid mercury

    Oliver Zier, Walter Zimmermann, Werner Pesch

    JFM 874, 76–101 DOI Journal

Second-author papers

5 papers with significant co-author contributions.

  1. 2026
    Lumina

    The Lumina Project: CMB Optical Depth Fluctuations from Patchy Reionization

    Aaron Smith, Oliver Zier, Rahul Kannan, Xuejian Shen, Rongrong Liu, Mark Vogelsberger, Volker Springel, Rüdiger Pakmor, Sonja M. Koehler, Lars Hernquist, Meredith Neyer

    submitted to OJAp arXiv ADS
  2. 2026
    Lumina

    The Lumina Project: The Demographics of Active Galactic Nuclei from Quasars to Little Red Dots at z ≥ 3

    Xuejian Shen, Oliver Zier, Aaron Smith, Rongrong Liu, Rahul Kannan, Teodora-Elena Bulichi, Sonja M. Koehler, Volker Springel, Mark Vogelsberger, Lars Hernquist, Rohan P. Naidu, Anna de Graaff, Elia Pizzati, David M. Alexander, Luis C. Ho, Vasily Kokorev, Gene Leung, Anna-Christina Eilers, Ryan C. Hickox

    submitted to MNRAS arXiv ADS
  3. 2025
    Galaxy Formation

    The Cosmic Rush Hour: Rapid Formation of Bright, Massive, Disky, Star-Forming Galaxies as Signatures of Early-Universe Physics

    Xuejian Shen, Oliver Zier, Mark Vogelsberger, Michael Boylan-Kolchin, Lars Hernquist, Sandro Tacchella, Rohan P. Naidu

    submitted to MNRAS arXiv ADS
  4. 2025
    Reionization

    High-redshift AGN population in radiation-hydrodynamics simulations

    Teodora-Elena Bulichi, Oliver Zier, Aaron Smith, Mark Vogelsberger, Anna-Christina Eilers, Rahul Kannan, Xuejian Shen, Ewald Puchwein, Enrico Garaldi, Josh Borrow

    MNRAS 544, 355–371 arXiv ADS DOI
  5. 2025
    Non-ideal MHD

    Moving-mesh non-ideal magnetohydrodynamical simulations of the collapse of cloud cores to protostars

    Alexander C. Mayer, Oliver Zier, Thorsten Naab, Rüdiger Pakmor, Paola Caselli, Alexei V. Ivlev, Volker Springel, Stefanie Walch

    MNRAS 537, 379–401 arXiv ADS DOI Journal

Collaborations

17 co-author papers.

  1. 2021
    Code Development

    Simulating cosmic structure formation with the GADGET-4 code

    Volker Springel, Rüdiger Pakmor, Oliver Zier, Martin Reinecke

    MNRAS 506, 2871–2949 arXiv ADS DOI Journal
  2. 2026
    SIDM

    Role of prompt cusps in driving the core collapse of self-interacting dark matter halos

    Vinh Tran, Daniel Gilman, M. Sten Delos, Xuejian Shen, Oliver Zier, Mark Vogelsberger, David Xu

    PRD 113, 083030 arXiv ADS DOI
  3. 2026
    Galaxy Formation

    Metallicity Gradients in Modern Cosmological Simulations II: The Role of Bursty Versus Smooth Feedback at High Redshift

    Alex M. Garcia, Paul Torrey, Aniket Bhagwat, Xuejian Shen, Mark Vogelsberger, William McClymont, Jaya Nagarajan-Swenson, Sophia G. Ridolfo, Peixin Zhu, Dhruv T. Zimmerman, Oliver Zier, Sarah Biddle, Arnab Sarkar, Priyanka Chakraborty, Ruby J. Wright, Kathryn Grasha, Tiago Costa, Laura Keating, Rahul Kannan, Aaron Smith, Enrico Garaldi, Ewald Puchwein, Benedetta Ciardi, Lars Hernquist, Lisa J. Kewley

    ApJ 1001, 188 arXiv ADS DOI
  4. 2026
    Reionization

    The THESAN-ZOOM project: The Hidden Neighbours of OI Absorbers during Reionization

    Giulia Pruto, Laura Keating, Rahul Kannan, Ewald Puchwein, Aaron Smith, Josh Borrow, Enrico Garaldi, Mark Vogelsberger, Oliver Zier, William McClymont, Xuejian Shen, Sandro Tacchella

  5. 2026
    Non-ideal MHD

    Formation of protostars and the launching of stellar core outflows with moving-mesh radiation non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics

    Alexander C. Mayer, Rüdiger Pakmor, Thorsten Naab, Oliver Zier, Alexei V. Ivlev, Tommaso Grassi, Paola Caselli, Volker Springel

  6. 2026
    Reionization

    The THESAN-ZOOM project: mystery N/O more — uncovering the origin of peculiar chemical abundances and a not-so-fundamental metallicity relation at 3 < z < 12

    William McClymont, Sandro Tacchella, Aaron Smith, Rahul Kannan, Enrico Garaldi, Ewald Puchwein, Yuki Isobe, Xihan Ji, Xuejian Shen, Zihao Wang, Vasily Belokurov, Josh Borrow, Francesco D'Eugenio, Laura Keating, Roberto Maiolino, Stephanie Monty, Mark Vogelsberger, Oliver Zier

  7. 2025
    Star Formation

    Protostellar discs in their natural habitat — the formation of protostars and their accretion discs in the turbulent and magnetized interstellar medium

    Alexander C. Mayer, Thorsten Naab, Paola Caselli, Alexei V. Ivlev, Tommaso Grassi, Oliver Zier, Rüdiger Pakmor, Stefanie Walch, Volker Springel

    MNRAS 543, 3321–3344 arXiv ADS DOI
  8. 2026
    Reionization

    Overmassive black holes in the early Universe can be explained by gas-rich, dark matter-dominated galaxies

    William McClymont, Sandro Tacchella, Xihan Ji, Rahul Kannan, Roberto Maiolino, Charlotte Simmonds, Aaron Smith, Ewald Puchwein, Enrico Garaldi, Mark Vogelsberger, Francesco D'Eugenio, Laura Keating, Xuejian Shen, Bartolomeo Trefoloni, Oliver Zier

  9. 2025
    Reionization

    The THESAN-ZOOM project: Star formation efficiency from giant molecular clouds to galactic scale in high-redshift starbursts

    Zihao Wang, Xuejian Shen, Mark Vogelsberger, Hui Li, Rahul Kannan, Ewald Puchwein, Aaron Smith, Josh Borrow, Enrico Garaldi, Laura Keating, Oliver Zier, William McClymont, Sandro Tacchella, Yang Ni, Lars Hernquist

    MNRAS 544, 2675–2697 arXiv ADS DOI
  10. 2025
    Reionization

    The THESAN-ZOOM project: central starbursts and inside-out quenching govern galaxy sizes in the early Universe

    William McClymont, Sandro Tacchella, Aaron Smith, Rahul Kannan, Ewald Puchwein, Josh Borrow, Enrico Garaldi, Laura Keating, Mark Vogelsberger, Oliver Zier, Xuejian Shen, Filip Popovic

    MNRAS 544, 1732–1747 arXiv ADS DOI
  11. 2026
    Reionization

    The THESAN-ZOOM project: star formation efficiencies in high-redshift galaxies

    Xuejian Shen, Rahul Kannan, Ewald Puchwein, Aaron Smith, Mark Vogelsberger, Josh Borrow, Enrico Garaldi, Laura Keating, Oliver Zier, William McClymont, Sandro Tacchella, Zihao Wang, Lars Hernquist

  12. 2025
    Reionization

    The THESAN-ZOOM project: burst, quench, repeat — unveiling the evolution of high-redshift galaxies along the star-forming main sequence

    William McClymont, Sandro Tacchella, Aaron Smith, Rahul Kannan, Ewald Puchwein, Josh Borrow, Enrico Garaldi, Laura Keating, Mark Vogelsberger, Oliver Zier, Xuejian Shen, Filip Popovic, Charlotte Simmonds

    MNRAS 544, 513–534 arXiv ADS DOI
  13. 2025
    Reionization

    Introducing the THESAN-ZOOM project: radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of high-redshift galaxies with a multi-phase interstellar medium

    Rahul Kannan, Ewald Puchwein, Aaron Smith, Josh Borrow, Enrico Garaldi, Laura Keating, Mark Vogelsberger, Oliver Zier, William McClymont, Xuejian Shen, Filip Popovic, Sandro Tacchella, Lars Hernquist, Volker Springel

    The Open Journal of Astrophysics 8, 153 arXiv ADS DOI
  14. 2026
    SIDM

    Novel density profile for isothermal cores of dark matter halos

    Vinh Tran, Xuejian Shen, Mark Vogelsberger, Daniel Gilman, Stephanie O'Neil, Cian Roche, Oliver Zier, Jiarun Gao

    PRD 113, 063024 arXiv ADS DOI
  15. 2025
    Reionization

    The THESAN project: tracking the expansion and merger histories of ionized bubbles during the Epoch of Reionization

    Nathan Jamieson, Aaron Smith, Meredith Neyer, Rahul Kannan, Enrico Garaldi, Mark Vogelsberger, Lars Hernquist, Oliver Zier, Xuejian Shen, Koki Kakiichi

    MNRAS 541, 1088–1105 arXiv ADS DOI
  16. 2024
    Reionization

    The THESAN project: galaxy sizes during the epoch of reionization

    Xuejian Shen, Mark Vogelsberger, Josh Borrow, Yongao Hu, Evan Erickson, Rahul Kannan, Aaron Smith, Enrico Garaldi, Lars Hernquist, Takahiro Morishita, Sandro Tacchella, Oliver Zier, Guochao Sun, Anna-Christina Eilers, Hui Wang

    MNRAS 534, 1433–1458 arXiv ADS DOI
  17. 2023
    AGN

    The Accretion Mode in Sub-Eddington Supermassive Black Holes: Getting into the Central Parsecs of Andromeda

    C. Alig, A. Prieto, M. Blaña, M. Frischman, C. Metzl, A. Burkert, O. Zier, A. Streblyanska