Hernquist's research involves the dynamics of galaxies and the effect of a merger driven model for galaxy evolution. He is a world expert in simulating mergers of galaxies to demonstrate the expected appearance and morphology of the resulting body. He defined the "Hernquist Profile", which is an analytic expression for the distribution of
dark matter in galaxies. Hernquist's research is largely computational with one of the world's largest supercomputers accessible for his research.
Awards Hernquist was awarded the 2020
Gruber Prize in Cosmology jointly with Volker Springel, who together have made computer simulations "an indispensable tool for cosmologists, allowing them to test theories and locate fertile areas for further research." ==References==