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Paz Beniamini, Associate Professor

Contact Info

The Open University of Israel Department of Natural Sciences 1 University Road P.O.B. 808 Ra’anana 4353701, Israel
Office:972-9-7782070 Email:pazb@openu.ac.il

Areas of Interest
  • Gamma Ray bursts
  • Fast radio bursts
  • Compact binary systems
  • R-process nucleosynthesis
  • Magnetars

Dr. Paz Beniamini is an astrophysicist. His research domain is theoretical high energy astrophysics, which deals with some of the most extreme environments in nature, in which particles can be accelerated to within a fraction of the speed of light and the magnetic fields may be a hundred trillion times greater than those on Earth. Paz’s research focuses on Gamma ray bursts, fast radio bursts, magnetars, binary neutron stars and formation channels of heavy elements in the Universe. Paz holds a BSc, MSc and PhD in Physics from the Hebrew University. After completing his PhD work in 2016 he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, at the George Washington University and at the California institute of technology (Caltech). Paz joined the Open University of Israel as a senior lecturer in 2021.

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2011-2016
Ph.D. in Astrophysics. Dissertation title: Radiation Processes in Gamma Ray Bursts; the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2009-2011
M.Sc in Physics. Research project: high energy emission from Gamma ray bursts; the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2006-2009
B.Sc in Physics and Mathematics; the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2024 -
Associater professor at the Open University of Israel
2021 - 2024
Senior lecturer at the Open University of Israel
2019 - 2021
Moore postdoctoral fellow at Caltech
2017- 2019
Postdoctoral research fellow at the George Washington University
2016 - 2017
Chateaubriand fellow at the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris
2022 - 2025
co-PI of selected NSF-BSF grant: Crossing the Chasm: From compact object mergers to cosmic fireworks
2017 - 2021
co-I of selected NASA Fermi proposal: MAGNETAR OBSERVATIONS WITH THE FERMI/GAMMA RAY BURST MONITOR
2019 - 2021
Moore postdoctoral prize fellowship from Caltech, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara
2016
Chateaubriand fellowship from the French government
2016
Best teaching assistant in Physics from the Hebrew University
2015
Research travel grant from the Hebrew University authority for R&D
2015
Rosenblum award for excellent research in Astrophysics
2015
Teaching excellence award from the Hebrew University

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“Survival Times of Supramassive Neutron Stars Resulting from Binary Neutron Star Mergers” Beniamini P.; Lu W.; 2021, ApJ, 920109B

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac1678/meta.

“Exploring the epoch of hydrogen reionization using FRBs” Beniamini P.; Kumar P.; Ma X.; Quataert E.; 2021, MNRAS, 502, 5134B.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab309

“What does FRB light-curve variability tell us about the emission mechanism?” Beniamini P.; Kumar P.; 2020, MNRAS, 498, 651B.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2489

“Periodicity in recurrent fast radio bursts and the origin of ultralong period magnetars” Beniamini P.; Wadiasingh Z.; Metzger B. D.; 2020, MNRAS, 496, 3390B.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa1783

“Afterglow Lightcurves from Misaligned Structured Jets” Beniamini P.; Granot J.; Gill R.; 2020, MNRAS, 493, 3521B.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa538

“The Gravitational waves merger time distribution of binary neutron star systems”, Beniamini P.; Piran T.; 2019, MNRAS, 487, 4847B.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz1589

“Formation rates and evolution histories of magnetars”, Beniamini P.; Hotokezaka K.; Van der Horst A.; Kouveliotou C.; 2019, MNRAS, 487, 1426B.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz1391

“A lesson from GW170817: most neutron star mergers result in tightly collimated successful GRB jets”, Beniamini P.; Petropoulou M.; Barniol Duran R.; Giannios D.; 2019, MNRAS, 483, 840B.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty3093

“Observational constraints on the structure of gamma-ray burst jets”, Beniamini P.; Nakar E.; 2019, MNRAS, 482, 5430B.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty3110

“Neutron star mergers as sites of r-process nucleosynthesis and short gamma-ray bursts”, Hotokezaka K.; Beniamini P.; Piran T.; 2018, International Journal of Modern Physics D, 1842005.

https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218271818420051

“Natal Kicks and Time Delays in Merging Neutron Star Binaries: Implications for r-process Nucleosynthesis in Ultra-faint Dwarfs and in the Milky Way”, Beniamini P.; Hotokezaka K.; Piran T., 2016, ApJ, 829L, 13B.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8205/829/1/L13

“Formation of Double Neutron Star systems as implied by observations”, Beniamini P.; Piran T., 2016, MNRAS, 454, 4089B.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2903

“Energies of GRB blast waves and prompt efficiencies as implied by self-consistent modeling of X-ray and LAT afterglows”, Beniamini P.; Nava L.; Barniol Duran R.; Piran T., 2015, MNRAS, 454, 1073B.

https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2033