About

I am Zihao Wu (吴梓豪, pronounced Wú zǐháo), a PhD student in the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University, advised by Professor Daniel J. Eisenstein. I am a member of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES).

My research focuses on JWST observations of galaxies in the early Universe. I currently lead a JWST Cycle 5 program as Principal Investigator, targeting one of the earliest known galaxy overdensities at z ≈ 10.5 with 36 hr of NIRSpec spectroscopy. The observed galaxy abundance in this system far exceeds predictions from current cosmological simulations, making it a powerful laboratory for testing models of large-scale structure formation and galaxy evolution at cosmic dawn.

Education

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Ph.D. Candidate in Astronomy & Astrophysics (Advisor: Daniel J. Eisenstein)
2023 - Expected 2028

Peking University, Beijing, China
B.S. in Astrophysics (Advisor: Luis C. Ho)
2019 - 2023

First-Author Publications

Zihao Wu, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Benjamin D. Johnson, Lars Hernquist, et al.
Dynamical Measurements of Dark Matter Halo Masses at z ≈ 7 Using Galaxy Pairs
arXiv e-prints, arXiv:2609.17756 (2026)

Zihao Wu, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Benjamin D. Johnson, Kevin Hainline, et al.
JADES: A Prominent Galaxy Overdensity Candidate within the First 500 Myr
The Astrophysical Journal, 1006, 18 (2026)

Zihao Wu, Benjamin D. Johnson, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Phillip Cargile, et al.
JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) Data Release 5: Wisp Subtraction with the Nonnegative Matrix Factorization Algorithm
The Astronomical Journal, 172, 105 (2026)

Zihao Wu, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Benjamin D. Johnson, Peter Jakobsen, et al.
JADES-GS-z14-1: A Compact, Faint Galaxy at z ≈ 14 with Weak Metal Lines from Extremely Deep JWST MIRI, NIRCam, and NIRSpec Observations
The Astrophysical Journal, 992, 212 (2025)

Zihao Wu, Luis C. Ho
Detecting Intermediate-mass Black Holes Using Quasar Microlensing
The Astrophysical Journal, 985, 2 (2025)

Zihao Wu, Luis C. Ho, Ming-Yang Zhuang
An Elusive Population of Massive Disk Galaxies Hosting Double-lobed Radio-loud AGNs
The Astrophysical Journal, 941, 95 (2022)