School of Humanities and Sciences


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  • Vahe Petrosian

    Vahe Petrosian

    Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics

    BioHow do things evolve in the universe? How are particles accelerated in the universe?

    Professor Petrosian’s research covers many topics in the broad area of theoretical astrophysics and cosmology, with a strong focus on high-energy astrophysical processes.

    Cosmological studies deal with global properties of the universe, where the main focus is the understanding of the evolution of the universe at high redshifts, through studies of the evolutions of population of sources such as galaxies and quasars or active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, using new statistical techniques developed in collaboration with Prof. B. Efron of the Department of Statistics. Another area of research is the use of gravitational lensing in measuring mass in the universe.

    High-energy astrophysics research involves interpretation of non-thermal astronomical sources where particles are accelerated to very high energies and emit various kinds of radiation. These processes occur on many scales and in all sorts of objects: in the magnetosphere of planets, in the interplanetary space, during solar and stellar flares, in the accretion disks and jets around stellar-size and super-massive black holes, at centers of galaxies, in gamma-ray bursts, in supernovae, and in the intra-cluster medium of clusters of galaxies. Plasma physics processes common in all these sources for acceleration of particles and their radiative signature is the main focus of the research here.

  • Oliver Philcox

    Oliver Philcox

    Acting Assistant Professor, Physics

    BioJunior Fellow, Simons Society of Fellows (2022 - 2025)
    Ph.D., Princeton University (2022)
    M.A. (Cantab.), Cambridge University (2018)

    I’m broadly interested in theoretical, statistical, and observational cosmology, particularly as applied to galaxy surveys and the Cosmic Microwave Background. Recently, I have worked on measuring, modeling, and interpreting new and old physics in a range of cosmological datasets, and using them to learn about the early Universe. With Mikhail Ivanov and Marko Simonovic, I won the 2024 New Horizons Prize in Physics, for work on the Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structure. Please send me an email if you're interested in working with me!