Astrophysics

I’ll discuss an old technique called intensity interferometry, pioneered by Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) that allows us to achieve sub-microarcsecond angular resolution using ordinary ground-based optical telescopes observing visible light.  This...

The high and dry desert of the Chilean Andes is a magnificent site from which to observe the universe. The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) made measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from there for fifteen years, with a series of...

The conventional device to convert light to electrical current uses two different kinds of doped silicon merged together known as pn junction or heterostructures. The current only flows one way in the pn junction due to a built-in electric field...

The Bahcall Lunch follows the astrophysics colloquium lecture. Registration is required by 4pm the previous Thursday so a meal can be provided. Email Amanda at cenker@ias.edu with questions.

Abstract: Planetary systems are shaped as much by destructive processes --- N-body instabilities, catastrophic impacts, and atmospheric loss --- as by accretionary ones. We examine the histories of violence written in: (a) the orbital architectures...

I will describe our recent paper Oren+ 2024 arXiv2403.09476 in which we analyze recent observations of the the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect arising in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of L* galaxies. We make use of analytic models and...

Gravitational forces from the largest structures in the Universe leave a detectable imprint on galaxies and their local environment. This can manifest as the "Intrinsic Alignment" of galaxy orientations to the large-scale tidal field, although...

Abstract: I will talk about the scattering problem in general relativity, and present a construction of a scattering theory resolving the problem for the linearised Einstein equations in a double null gauge against a Schwarzschild background. This...

Magnetic field and tide are of importance for celestial bodies. In the first part, I will discuss uniform rotation of solar radiative zone, convection dynamo in star, precession dynamo in planet, and collision dynamo in planetesimal. In the second...