Astrophysics

In a paper published today in Nature, Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member in the Institute’s School of Natural Sciences, and his collaborators have proposed a new theory that explains why a puzzling population of white dwarf stars stopped cooling for ten billion years. 

"Leading contributions to computational astrophysics" made by James Stone, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, are set to be recognized with an award from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). 

Past IAS Member and Visitor Neta Bahcall has been announced as the 2024 winner of the American Astronomical Society's prestigious Henry Norris Russell Lectureship. Neta's receipt of this award makes her and her late husband John N. Bahcall, past Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, the first astronomy couple to each receive this honor.

Scholars from the School of Natural Sciences brought together astrophysicists from across the world for a workshop focused on improving understanding of observations from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). The organizers also hosted an observing night for the IAS community, featuring a specially constructed radio telescope.

New research published by Lev Arzamasskiy, current Member in the School of Natural Sciences, and his collaborators, which include past Member (1999–2001) and Visitor (2005) Eliot Quatert, has provided "invaluable" insights into the basic plasma physics that occurs in astrophysical systems.

Measuring the mass of a galaxy cluster is difficult—clusters cannot be “weighed” by placing them on a scale. Digvijay Wadekar, current Member in the School of Natural Sciences, has worked to develop an AI program to identify new variables that might make inferring the mass from other observable quantities more accurate.

A research team, led by current Visitor Roman Rafikov, has developed a technique to study planet formation in other solar systems. By analyzing the vortices that form within discs of gas and dust around young stars, limits can be placed on the mass and age of planets of various sizes.

Feryal Özel, past Member in the School of Natural Sciences (2002–05) and current chair of the School of Physics at Georgia Tech, discusses her work on the recent imaging of a black hole with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration and the...

Rashid Sunyaev, Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, has been awarded the Max Planck Medal, the highest prize in theoretical physics granted by the German Physical Society (DPG), in recognition of “numerous and...