Faculty Research   -   Post Doc Research   -   Graduate Research   -   Alumni Research   -   Select Publications

Faculty Research

• Matthew Malkan studies the nature of active galactic nuclei and quasars, and has searched for high redshift galaxies associated with quasar absorption line system.
• Ian McLean studies the first generation of galaxies in the Universe by observing their emission redshifted into the infrared.
• Michael Rich is part of a team of astronomers who will measure the age of the Universe from the ages of the oldest white dwarfs in the globular cluster M4. As a byproduct, the Hubble Space Telescope imagery will produce an image as deep as the Hubble Deep Field.
• Edward Wright studies cosmology using infrared astronomy and the cosmic microwave background (CMB). He is the Principal Investigator on the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) to be launched in 2009, and he has been involved with the Spitzer Space Telescope since 1976. Wright studies the CMB, which gives evidence about the state of the Universe in the first picosecond after the Big Bang, using data from the COsmic Background Explorer (COBE, launched in 1989 - Nobel Prize in Physics 2006) and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP, launched in 2001).

Postdoctoral Research

• Sara Petty's main interest is observational cosmology especially the study of galaxy evolution. She is currently working with Ned Wright on the WISE (Wide Infrared Survey Explorer) mission, where she will select Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs) at redhifts 1-3 and continue studying galaxy evolution.

Select Publications:

• Cosmology from the Highly-Redshifted 21 cm Line, Steven Furlanetto, et al. (2009), White paper for the Astro2010 Decadal Survey
• Extragalactic Point Source Search in Five_year WMAP 41, 61 and 94 GHz Maps, Xi Chen & Edward L. Wright (2008), ApJ, submitted
• The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Source Catalog, E. L. Wright, et al. (2008), ApJS, submitted
• Probing the 3.6 Micron CIRB with Spitzer in 3 DIRBE Dark Spots, L.R. Levenson & E.L. Wright (2008), ApJ, submitted
• Extragalactic Point Source Search in WMAP 61 and 94 GHz Data, Xi Chen & Edward L. Wright (2007), ApJ, submitted
• Constraints on Dark Energy from Supernovae,Gamma Ray Bursts, Acoustic Oscillations, Nucleosynthesis and Large Scale Structure and the Hubble Constant, Edward L. Wright, 2007, ApJ, in press
• DIRBE Minus 2MASS: Confirming the CIRB in 40 NewRegions at 2.2 and 3.5 Microns, L.R. Levenson, E.L. Wright, & B.D. Johnson, 2007, ApJ,submitted
• DIRBE Minus 2MASS: Confirming the Cosmic Infrared Background at 2.2 Microns, E. L. Wright, 2001, ApJ, 553, 538.
• An Empirically Based Model for Predicting Infrared Luminosity Functions, Deep Infrared Galaxy Counts and the Diffuse Infrared Background, M. A. Malkan and F. W. Stecker, 2001, ApJ, 555, 641.
• Detection of the Cosmic Infrared Background at 2.2 and 3.5 microns Using DIRBE Observations, E. L. Wright & E. D. Reese, 2000, ApJ, 545, 43
• Angular Power Spectra of the COBE DIRBE Maps, E.L. Wright, 1998, ApJ, 496, 1
• An Empirically Based Calculation of the Extragalactic Infrared Background, M. A. Malkan and F. W. Stecker, 1998, ApJ, 496, 13

Graduate and Postdoc Alumni Research

• Xi Chen works with Prof. Ned Wright searching for extragalactic point sources in the WMAP data set.
• Louis Levenson works with Professor Ned Wright investigating the Cosmic InfraRed Background using data from COBE/DIRBE, 2MASS, and Spitzer.
• Varoujan Gorjian (grad) is working with Edward Wright on the estimation of the cosmic infrared background at near infrared wavelengths.
• Ranga-Ram Chary (grad) is working with Edward Wright on the estimation of the cosmic gamma-ray background.
• Amy Lo worked with Prof. Edward Wright on a Monte Carlo simulation of emission from buckyball interstellar dust. She also worked on simulations of Topological Defects in the CMB.