Scott Tremaine Discusses Astronomical Evidence for Black Holes, Dark Matter and Dark Energy

One of the remarkable successes of twentieth century astronomy was the demonstration that the laws of physics derived in the laboratory can successfully describe a wide range of astronomical objects and phenomena. A great hope of twenty-first century physics is that astronomy can return the favor, by allowing us to explore physics that cannot be studied in the laboratory. Astrophysicist Scott Tremaine, Richard Black Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, will expand upon this subject in his talk, The Fifth Element: Astronomical Evidence for Black Holes, Dark Matter and Dark Energy. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, October 15, at 4:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute's campus.

Tremaine will describe three exotic forms of matter that (so far) are known to exist only from astronomical observations: black holes, dark matter and dark energy. A specialist in astrophysical dynamics, including the formation and evolution of planetary systems, comets, black holes, star clusters, galaxies and galaxy systems, Tremaine is working on understanding the dynamics of astrophysical systems on a broad range of scales, from comets to clusters of galaxies. He is a member of a collaborative group investigating the properties of black holes in galaxies that found that almost every galaxy contains a massive black hole at its center, and that the masses of these black holes are strongly correlated with the dynamics of the surrounding galaxy.

Tremaine, who joined the Faculty of the Institute in 2007, received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1975. He then held postdoctoral fellowships at Caltech and Cambridge University. Tremaine was a long-term Member at the Institute (1978-81) before joining the Faculty of MIT. He was Professor in the Departments of Physics and Astrophysics of the University of Toronto (1985-97), where he also served as founding Director of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (1985-96), establishing it as a leading international research center. Tremaine is the author, with James Binney, of the influential textbook Galactic Dynamics (Princeton University Press, 1987; second edition, 2008) and has contributed more than 150 papers to the Astrophysical Journal, Icarus, and other journals. He is a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Canada and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1997, he was awarded the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics.

For further information about this event, which is free and open to the public, please call (609) 734-8175, or visit the Public Events page on the Institute website.