Top High-Energy Astronomy Prize Awarded
For Clocking Pulsars
Media Contact:
Dr. Ilana Harrus
High Energy Astrophysics Division Press Officer
imh@lheapop.gsfc.nasa.gov
301-286-9649
issued by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
January 18. 2006 Greenbelt, MD -- Three scientists share this year's Bruno Rossi Prize for their pioneering work on understanding the exotic environment around
fast-spinning neutron stars, where matter can whirl about at nearly
light speed and where space itself is warped. The prize is the top
award given each year by the High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD)
of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).
The winners are Tod Strohmayer of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md., Deepto Chakrabarty of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, and Rudy Wijnands of the University of Amsterdam.
Their work, done both independently and sometimes as collaborators,
has been described as breakthrough in interpreting the complex
signals emitted as X-ray light from millisecond pulsars. A
millisecond pulsar is a type of fast-spinning neutron star in a
binary system with an ordinary star. Gas pulled away from the surface
of the companion star crashes onto the neutron star, spinning it up
to rotation rates of hundreds of revolutions per second.
These scientists have revealed that oscillations in the emitted X-ray
light can be used to measure the pulsar's spin rate and other key
parameters. Their observations were made with NASA's Rossi X-ray
Timing Explorer, which marks its tenth year in orbit this month.
"This is an unexpected honor," said Strohmayer. "This award really
acknowledges the community who built, operates and interprets data
from the Rossi Explorer. Without the dedication of many scientists
and engineers, none of the observations that my co-winners and I have
made would have been possible."
Strohmayer, an expert on thermonuclear X-ray bursts emitted from the
surface of neutron stars, credits Jean Swank, the Rossi Explorer
project scientist, also at NASA Goddard, for giving him the
opportunity to join the Rossi team.
Deepto Chakrabarty, an associate professor of physics at MIT and a
researcher at MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space
Research, is an expert on millisecond pulsars. He credits his MIT
colleagues and collaborators, especially research scientist Edward
Morgan, for making his discoveries possible.
"Bruno Rossi was a giant at MIT; and as a MIT professor, I am humbled
to receive an award named in his honor," Chakrabarty said. "The Rossi
Explorer is a powerful tool to probe the environs of black holes and
neutron stars. It has been thrilling to join my colleagues in so many
discoveries."
Rudy Wijnands, a member of the University of Amsterdam's High-Energy
Astrophysics Group, discovered the first accreting millisecond
pulsar, in 1998. He is an expert in interpreting signals from X-ray
pulsars called quasi-periodic oscillations, or QPOs, emitted from gas
whipping around the pulsar at high speeds.
"I am very happy and thrilled that I received this award and that the
work of myself and of Deepto and Tod is recognized as being
important," said Wijnands. "I feel honored to be among the list of
scientists who have received this award."
The HEAD-AAS awards the Rossi Prize in recognition of significant
contributions as well as recent and original work in high-energy
astrophysics. Past awards have been given for work, both theoretical
and observational, in the fields of neutrinos, cosmic rays, gamma
rays and X-rays. The prize is in honor of Professor Bruno Rossi, an
authority on cosmic-ray physics and a pioneer in the field of X-ray
astronomy. Bruno Rossi died in 1993. The prize also includes an
engraved certificate and a $1,500 award, which will be shared among
the winners.
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