Astrophysics

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...

Neutron stars are one of the densest objects found anywhere in the Universe. Scientists still do not understand what exactly they are made from. A new piece of the puzzle, constraining the range of possibilities, has been discovered by a pair of scholars at IAS.

"Widely separated binary systems take more than a thousand years to complete a single orbit, making it challenging to measure the eccentricity of an individual system. Instead, Hsiang-Chih Hwang (Institute for Advanced Study) used a statistical technique to study nearly a million binary systems at once."

Past Member Roger Ulrich (1975) has been named a winner of the 2022 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics. He is cited, along with Conny Aerts and Jørgen Christensen-Dalsgaard, for “pioneering work and leadership in the development of helioseismology and asteroseismology.”

James Stone, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences, has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors in recognition of advancements in original research. 

Bart Ripperda, incoming Member in the School of Natural Sciences, has been named an Einstein Fellow of the NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP). His proposed project is titled Multiwavelength Flares in the High-Energy Universe.

Helmer Herman Koppelman, past Member (2020–21) in the School of Natural Sciences, has received a 2022 MERAC Prize from the European Astronomical Society for his work in theoretical astrophysics, an exceptional honor for early-career scholars.