Dr. Tiago Costa

Academic Track Fellow

News

• Applications now open for fully-funded PhD project (from October 2025) on Quasar Feedback in the Radio Band: Obscuration & Cosmic Ray Acceleration. Interested applicants are welcome to contact me for inquiries about the post and project.

Career

• since 2023: Tenure Track Fellow (Newcastle University, UK),
• 2018—2023: MPA Postdoctoral Fellow (MPA Garching, Germany),
• 2015—2018: Nova Postdoctoral Fellow (Leiden Observatory, Netherlands),
• 2011—2015: Ph. D. (Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK)

Research interests

• Galaxy evolution and the impact of active galactic nuclei (AGN),
• Physics of AGN feedback (e.g. accretion disc winds, momentum-, energy-driving, radiation pressure),
• Outflow driving mechanisms and multi-phase structure in galactic outflows and the circumgalactic medium,
• High-z quasars, supermassive black hole growth, quasar cosmic environments,
• Numerical implementations of AGN Feedback and black hole accretion into (radiation-)hydrodynamic galaxy formation codes (AREPO, GADGET, RAMSES)

Code development & Simulations

BOLA

• I am currently developing BOLA (Boundary Layer for AGN), an AREPO module that performs black hole accretion and AGN feedback via jets/winds by means of a moving boundary surface. People are welcome to contact me if they would like to use BOLA for their projects.
• Documentation for BOLA (Boundary Layer for AGN) can be found here,
• Some animations of BOLA energy-driven outflows (LHS: density, RHS: temperature). A proper section with various animations is in the making...

The SPICE simulations

• I was involved in the development of the SPICE suite of radiation-hydrodynamic simulations (led by Aniket Bhagwat @MPA, Garching). Aniket has produced some spectacular visualisations, e.g. the temperature, ionising flux and neutral fraction evolution in one of the SPICE boxes:

Upcoming Talks

March 2025: CosmICConnections Seminar (Durham University, UK)

March 2025: Seminar (University of Southampton, UK)

April 2025: Colloquium (Edinburgh University, UK)

June 2025: Focus Week (IFPU, Trieste, Italy)

July 2025: "Quo vadis galaxy evolution?" (Heidelberg, Germany)

July 2025: Plenary Talk, "The role of feedback in galaxy formation: from small-scale winds to large-scale outflows" Thinkshop (Potsdam, Germany)

September 2025: Invited Talk, "Massive Black Holes across Cosmic Time" (KICC, Cambridge, UK)

Selected Publications

• Tiago Costa:
  The host dark matter haloes of the first quasars, MNRAS (2024), (pdf)


• Tiago Costa, Fabrizio Arrigoni Battaia, Emanuele P. Farina, Laura C. Keating, Joakim Rosdahl & Taysun Kimm:
  AGN-driven outflows and the formation of Ly-alpha nebulae around high-z quasars, MNRAS (2022), (pdf, doi)


• Tiago Costa, Rüdiger Pakmor & Volker Springel:
  Powering galactic superwinds with small-scale AGN winds, MNRAS (2020), (pdf, doi)


• Tiago Costa, Joakim Rosdahl, Debora Sijacki & Martin Haehnelt:
  Quenching star formation with quasar outflows launched by trapped IR radiation, MNRAS (2018) (pdf, doi)


• Tiago Costa, Debora Sijacki & Martin Haehnelt:
  Feedback from active galactic nuclei: energy- versus momentum-driving, MNRAS (2014) (pdf, doi)


• Tiago Costa, Debora Sijacki, Michele Trenti & Martin Haehnelt:
  The environment of bright QSOs at z = 6: star-forming galaxies and X-ray emission, MNRAS (2014) (pdf, doi)

International Collaborations

Synergies between theory and observations:

• Accretion Alliance, Durham-Newcastle collaborations on BH growth and AGN feedback,
• Quasar Feedback Survey, a systematic multi-wavelength study of low-redshift (z<0.2) Type 1 and Type 2 quasars (core member),
• REQUIEM Survey, VLT/MUSE observations targeting z > 5.7 quasar environments (core member),
• Co-I in several Cycles 1,2 and 3 JWST GO Programs (GO 2028, GO 2078, GO 2177, GO 3158, GO 3325, GO 4056, GO 4691, Survey 5645)

Numerical models and simulations of galaxy formation:

• Learning the Universe

Students/Postdocs I have worked with:

• Ivan Almeida (2022-), Newcastle University,
• Aniket Bhagwat (2021-2024), MPA (supervisor: B. Ciardi),
• Samuel Ward (2020-2024), now at CCA, Flatiron Institute,

Research Highlights

• Reflected quasar light powers giant cool gas nebulae - how the first quasars generate giant Lyα nebulae,
• How black holes power galactic super-winds - a new physical model for quasar wind feedback,
• Cool dense hydrogen gas around the first quasars - a survey of giant cool gas clouds around the first quasars,
• The hidden satellites of the first massive galaxies and quasars - how stellar radiation precipitates the destruction of galaxy satellites

Public Engagement

I frequently speak on topics ranging from the solar system to cosmology to primary and high-school audiences. Example talks include:


• "O Sistema Solar e o Universo/ The Solar System and the Universe", GS Philipp-Weiß, Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany (2019)
• "Os buracos negros no centro das galáxias/ The black holes of galactic centres", Escola Raul Proença, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal (2019)
• "Breve História do Universo/ Short History of the Universe", Escola D. Pedro V, Lisboa, Portugal (2014, 2015)

You are welcome to contact me via email if you would like me to deliver a talk (in English, German or Portuguese) on these and other topics at your school.