About Me
Hello, I'm James! I have recently completed a PhD in computational astroparticle physics at Durham University. I am interested in high performance software development, data analysis, and scientific research. During my PhD I worked on a variety of projects including the development of simulation software to study the propagation of Axion Like Particles through intergalactic and terrestrial magnetic fields as well as the evolution of particle fields in the non-trivial geometric environment around black holes. Aside from astrophysics, I am currently developing a GPU accelerated rational interpolation library in C++ and CUDA to aid the computation of precision matrix elements relevant to the Large Hadron Collider.
Academic Publications
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Rational Reconstructor (In Preparation)
James Maxwell, Stephen JonesA GPU accelerated library for rational function reconstruction over Galois fields.
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Horizon Penetrating Dynamical Friction (In Preparation)
James Maxwell, Zipeng Wang, Francesca Chadha-Day, and Katy CloughA fixed background simulation for determining the dynamical friction force acting on Schwarzchild black holes using the Horizon Penetrating Kerr-Schild gauge
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22/11/2023ALP Anarchy
Francesca Chadha-Day, James Maxwell, Jessica TurnerString theory models generically predict the existence of multiple axion-like particle (ALP) fields, yet the majority of both theoretical and experimental works have assumed only one ALP. In this paper, we discuss the phenomenology of systems with multiple ALPs that can undergo oscillations akin to neutrino oscillations. Motivated by this effect, we extend the 'anarchy' framework, which has been used to predict neutrino oscillation parameters, to generate the parameters of many ALP systems. We explore the phenomenology of these ALP anarchy models in some of the leading ALP search strategies, including the CERN Axion Solar Telescope, magnetic white dwarfs and the gamma-ray spectra of distant blazars. We include both the ALP-photon and the ALP-electron coupling. We find that ALP anarchy models predict drastically different results than single ALP models.
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11/10/2021White-light versus discrete wavelength measurements of Faraday dispersion and the Verdet constant
James L Maxwell, Ifan G Hughes and Charles S AdamsThe wavelength dependence of the Faraday effect may be measured either sequentially at particular wavelengths using narrow band sources, or simultaneously at many wavelengths using a white-light or broadband source. We apply both methods to measure the wavelength dependence of the Verdet constant of a terbium gallium garnet crystal. We show that although the white-light measurement offers the advantage of requiring only one source, it is more prone to systematic errors than using multiple laser sources.
Additional Projects
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SPH Galaxy Formation
A Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulation written in C++ to study the formation of large scale structures in the universe.
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Ewe Spotter
AI Sheep identification app written in Flutter
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Hydraulic Erosion
A GPU accelerated fluvial erosion simulator made using Unity.
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Terrain Fluid Dynamics
A grid based, GPU accelerated real time fluid simulation written in vulkan. Designed to view turbulence over hill tops using real world LIDAR height data
Hobbies
When I'm not coding or researching, I love to explore the mountains. I enjoy paragliding, climbing, skiing and hiking. Below are some photos from recent adventures in the French alps, the Dolomites and North Macedonia.
