The Secrets of the Universe
Six Decades of Discoveries with Black Holes (Michael Nowak, WashU, Department of Physics)
If black holes are black, then how do we see them? And how do we know they are the objects described by Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity? We’ll discuss the history of astrophysical black hole research, starting with the discovery of Cygnus X-1 in 1964 leading up to the recent "imaging" of the supermassive black hole M87* by the Event Horizon Telescope. We’ll talk about how we infer the presence of a black hole, and how we study the extreme behaviors that these objects present.
Cosmic Forensics Using Stardust Grains (Nan Liu, WashU, Department of Physics)
In pristine extraterrestrial materials, we identify microscopic dust grains with exotic compositions, pointing to their formation in gas outflows or explosions of ancient stars. Since their stellar birth at more than 4.6 Ga, these stardust grains have borne witness to a diverse array of astrophysical and cosmochemical processes. I will outline how we can utilize stardust grains to understand the origin and evolution of the solar system.
Our Speakers
Michael Nowack, Ph.D.
(he/him/his)
Michael Nowak is a Research Professor in the Department of Physics at Washington University in Saint Louis. Prior to this, he was a research scientist at the MIT-Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He conducts astrophysics research with NASA and European Space Agency satellites, in collaboration with ground based observers. His primary interests concern high energy phenomena related to the physics of black holes --- stellar mass black holes in our own galaxy, as well as supermassive black holes in our own Galactic center and in the centers of other galaxies --- and neutron stars. he is also involved with a proposal to NASA for a new X-ray satellite to study hot gas between galaxies.
Follow the work of Mike and his colleagues on twitter @WashUPhysics and his personal website https://space.mit.edu/home/mnowak
Nan Liu, Ph.D.
(she/her)
Dr. Liu studies nuclear astrophysics and cosmochemistry. She applies micro-analytical techniques to study microscopic stellar fossils extracted from extraterrestrial materials. Dr. Liu obtained her Ph.D. in cosmochemistry from the University of Chicago in 2014. She then spent 3 three years at Carnegie Institution for Science in D.C. as a postdoctoral researcher. She has been a research assistant professor at Department of Physics at WashU since 2018. Dr. Liu has received the Meteoritical Society's 2021 Nier Prize, for her contributions to the field of presolar grains and nucleosynthesis.
Follow the work of Nan and her colleagues on twitter @WUSTL_EPS and @WashUPhysics and her personal website https://physics.wustl.edu/people/nan-liu.
