Astrophysics

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what might the first horizon-scale image of a black hole tell us? A new paper by researchers from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, which famously imaged M87’s central black hole, has provided a...

In a new study of axion motion, researchers, including Friends of the Institute for Advanced Study Member Keisuke Harigaya, propose a scenario known as “kinetic misalignment” that greatly strengthens the case for axion/dark matter equivalence. 

James M. Stone, a world-renowned computational astrophysicist, whose research is focused on fluid dynamics—in particular numerical solutions to the equations of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) in an astrophysical context—has been appointed to the Faculty...

Thirty years ago, Martin Rees, a former Member in the School of Natural Sciences and current IAS Trustee, predicted that bright flares produced when a star is torn apart by a black hole—what astrophysicists now call tidal disruption events (TDEs)...

Academic Trustee Ewine van Dishoeck has been recognized with the 2018 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics for her contributions to observational, theoretical, and laboratory astrochemistry.

Juna Kollmeier, former Junior Visiting Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, wants to understand the substance of the universe: What forms space structures like galaxies, supermassive black holes, and the intergalactic medium that fills the...

Juan Maldacena, Carl P. Feinberg Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, and Member Douglas Stanford will give the public lecture “The Cool Alter-Ego of a Black Hole,” on Friday, May 4, which will take place at 5:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on...

“Trying to understand Hawking’s discovery better has been a source of much fresh thinking for almost 40 years now, and we are probably still far from fully coming to grips with it. It still feels new,” said Edward Witten, Charles Simonyi Professor...

The American Astronomical Society awarded former Members in the School of Natural Sciences with prestigious prizes for outstanding achievements in scientific research, instrument development, and writing.

Since 2009, astrophysicists have been trying to explain the abundance of gamma radiation diffusing from the center of the Milky Way, a production of high-energy radiation far beyond what the known gamma-ray sources suggest. Tracy Slatyer, former...