Would you please give our readers a brief history of Space
Science at Stanford?
Stanford’s involvement in this area (subject to your
definition of Space Science) began in 1940s with research in the
Dept. of Electrical Engineering on ionospheric physics, radio
and radar astronomy [mostly of solar system objects, later
including more distant objects and the cosmic microwave
background radiation (CMB)]. It then broadened (in the 1960s,
within the Dept. of Applied Physics and later Physics) to
include solar and general astrophysics.
|
“Stanford now has the
capability to play a major role in the
investigation of many of the outstanding
problems in particle astrophysics and cosmology,
as well as solar physics...” |
|
In 1995, Stanford became a major partner in the development
and use of one of the world’s largest optical telescopes, the
Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) in Texas. In 2003, there was a
major expansion with the founding of the Kavli Institute for
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), which also involved
the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in a major new
direction of its research and the hiring of Roger Blandford and
Steven Kahn as its initial Director and Deputy Director,
respectively.
In the area of gravitational physics, Stanford has played the
leading role in the Gravity Probe B satellite program and an
important role in the development of instrumentation for the
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO).
What would you say is responsible for the university's high impact
in this field over the past decade?
Our solar physics group is one of the world’s leaders, due to
their major involvement with SOHO and other observational
programs coupled with their diverse helioseismology analyses.
Also prominent has been Stanford’s leadership role in all-sky
gamma-ray surveys (EGRET and the soon to be launched GLAST
satellite). The rapidly expanding and broadening efforts in
high-energy astrophysics and cosmology (due mainly to KIPAC)
have begun to have a major impact on the field.
What are Stanford's key research goals in this area, in your view?
- To more fully explore the structure and dynamics of the
solar interior and exterior.
- Within KIPAC, understanding the nature of the dark
matter and dark energy which dominates the universe [through
direct detection and observational programs such as the
Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and the Joint Dark
Energy Mission (JDEM)].
- Also within KIPAC, understanding how high-energy photons
and cosmic rays are produced and their relation to strongly
gravitating objects (such as black holes and neutron stars).
- Also within KIPAC, probing the early universe via the
anisotropy and polarization of the CMB.
Stanford's most-cited original paper in our records is, "The third
EGRET catalog of high-energy gamma-ray sources," (Hartman RC, et
al., Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 123[1]: 79-202, July 1999). Would
anyone care to talk a little about this paper and why it is so
highly cited?
The third EGRET catalog was developed by the EGRET
collaboration that included Stanford University. The EGRET
satellite provided the highest energy view of the entire sky.
This important astronomical catalog is a unique publication; it
is the only comprehensive all-sky catalog of cosmic sources of
this gamma-ray radiation. For this reason it is widely used by
the astrophysics community. Eventually, with the imminent launch
of GLAST, this catalog will be superseded by the GLAST catalog
of sources.
Have any other activities or endeavors become a particular source of
excitement or pride, regardless of citations?
- Clear separation of dark and ordinary matter in the
Bullet Cluster (Marusa Bradac and others).
- Recent observations of the polarization of the CMB by
the QUAD detector at the South Pole (Sarah Church and
others).
- Observations of the redshift and evolution of many
distant supernovae with the HET (Roger Romani and others),
which has helped to further characterize the acceleration of
the universe.
- Structure and rotation of the solar interior (Alexander
Kosovichev and others)
- Constraints on the properties of our universe (such as
the density of dark matter) via observations of clusters of
galaxies (Steve Allen and others).
- Anatoly Spitkovsky’s magnetohydrodynamic simulations of
pulsars, etc., and Tom Abel’s simulations of the first
structures to form in the universe.
- Earlier, Vahe Petrosian’s involvement in the discovery
of gravitational lensing by clusters of galaxies.
What research fields or capabilities do you see as critical for the
future of the university?
- Cosmology (dark energy surveys, galaxy clusters, CMB,
direct detection of the dark matter particles).
- High-energy astrophysics (as mentioned above). Both (a)
and (b) involve a significant role for the campus and SLAC
components of KIPAC).
- The continued expansion of KIPAC.
- Continuing our leadership role in solar physics.
What are the implications of Stanford's work for the future of this
particular field or neighboring fields?
Stanford now has the capability to play a major role in the
investigation of many of the outstanding problems in particle
astrophysics and cosmology, as well as solar physics, as
mentioned above.
Robert Wagoner, Ph.D.
Stanford University
Department of Physics
Stanford, CA, USA
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