Astrophysics and Cosmology

Astrophysics and cosmology aim to understand the origin, composition, and formation of the Universe. Over the past few decades, this field has been developing rapidly with notable scientific results, many already recognized with Nobel Prizes, including the cosmic microwave background, the ubiquity of unknown dark matter, the accelerated expansion of the Universe, gravitational waves, black holes, cosmic X-ray sources, and theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology. Researchers at Yale are addressing foundational questions raised by these and other results.

Yale Physics benefits from a partnership with the Yale Center for Research Computing (YCRC), a computational core facility created to support the advanced computing needs of the research community. It is staffed by a team of research scientists, application specialists, and systems administrators with expertise in supporting high performance computing (HPC) and computationally dependent disciplines. 

Science goal: To determine the evolution of supermassive black holes over the past 12-13 billion years (mass function and accretion rate), using multiwavelength surveys—primarily at X-ray, infrared, and optical wavelengths in a wedding-cake mix of depth and area. 

Yale involvement: Meg Urry designed this experiment with colleagues at the University of Hawaii and the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. Additional collaborators include former students and postdocs from the Urry group, and many other colleagues around the world.

Science goal: Measure the expansion history of the Universe and discover insights about dark energy. 

Yale involvement: The Newburgh group uses a technique called holography to map the beam shape of CHIME to be able to identify and remove emission from unintended sources.

Science goal: Measure the effects of dark energy on the expansion of the Universe

Yale involvement: The Yale Fiberview Camera—designed, built, and installed by the Baltay group at Wright Lab—is an integral part of the efficiency and precision of DESI.

Science goal: Study high-redshift large-scale structure for a constraint on dark energy and transient science to understand the nature of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs).

Yale involvement: The Newburgh group is leading the development of techniques, hardware, and analysis to measure and map the HIRAX beam shape with a quadcopter drone.

Science goal: Search for neutrinos by studying exploding stars, gamma-ray bursts, black holes, and neutron stars.

Yale involvement: The Maruyama group studies how supernovae explode, as well as fundamental properties of neutrinos.

Science goal: Study the expansion of the Universe and dark energy.

Yale involvement: The Baltay group’s work has improved the precision of the Hubble constant measurement using supernovae and variable stars as calibration standards, such that it is now better than the unexplained discrepancies. 

Science Goal: Study and search for supermassive black hole binary systems. These systems are key astronomical objects that help scientists understand the Universe’s structure and the dynamics of galaxy formation and evolution

Yale Involvement: Mingarelli develops sophisticated models that simulate the cosmic population of supermassive black hole binaries. Her models are crucial for improving the accuracy of gravitational wave detection and enhancing our understanding of these cosmic phenomena.

Science goal: Study the nature of the mysterious acceleration of the expansion of the Universe and dark energy.

Yale involvement: Baltay and his collaborator Saul Perlmutter (U.C. Berkeley) have advised NASA for many years on the design and use of the Roman Space Telescope for a supernova survey. The telescope is expected to launch in 2026.

Science goal: Probe the Cosmic Microwave Background to learn more about the beginning of the Universe. 

Yale involvement: The Newburgh group is part of the team commissioning SO. Newburgh leads the data acquisition and control group, mainly building software to control and acquire data.

Science Goal:  Create a detailed, three-dimensional map of the Universe.

Yale Involvement: Yale is a full participating member of the SDSS collaboration, which includes dozens of research institutions around the world. Yale astrophysicists have used SDSS data to contribute groundbreaking research on black holes, quasars, galaxy formation, and other cosmological phenomena.