Department Statement

 

The Department of Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin has a long-standing reputation as one of the leading graduate astronomy and astrophysics programs in the United States. The graduate program, leading to a Ph.D. degree, provides each student with a broad knowledge of modern observational and theoretical astrophysics, while emphasizing the development of independent research skills. From the first year, graduate students play an active role in the department's research programs and have complete access to all research facilities. Thus successful Ph.D. students leave the University with the background and experience needed for a successful and exciting career in astrophysical research and education.

 

 

 

The Departmental resources, both people and facilities, provide a superb environment for a broad range of research interests. Current research includes star formation, stellar winds, binary star evolution; studies of interstellar and intergalactic diffuse matter, stellar dynamics, structure and evolution of galaxies, galaxy clusters and cosmology. The Department of Astronomy also enjoys very strong research and educational ties with the Department of Physics, located in an adjoining building. Physics research programs include gamma ray, X-ray, and neutrino astronomy, the study of neutron stars, Fabry-Perot optical spectroscopy of the planets and comets, the cosmic microwave background, and laboratory astrophysics. Together the two programs provide an outstanding breadth of astrophysical research to graduate students.

 

Astrophysical theory at Wisconsin is particularly active in several broad areas. Stellar astrophysics has long been a strong area, with recent work directed toward the winds and disks surrounding massive stars, the formation and evolution of compact HII regions, and the origin and interpretation of the polarization of starlight. Wisconsin also is recognized as a center of theoretical studies of the composition and dynamics of the interstellar medium, particularly in regard to the nature of interstellar dust, the evolution of supernova remnants, the structure of the gaseous galactic halo, and the nature of the magnetic and turbulent properties of the medium. Stellar dynamical theory is represented in the evolution of star clusters, and the dynamics of galactic disks, nuclei, bars and massive halos.

 

 

Astronomical observations by Department members involve both state-of-the-art ground-based and space instrumentation. The advanced technology 3.5-meter telescope of the WIYN Observatory on Kitt Peak, near Tucson, Arizona, is a collaborative effort with Indiana University, Yale, and the National Optical Astronomical Observatories. The WIYN telescope is optimized for wide-field research. A forefront instrument is the Multi Object Spectrograph that can obtain spectra of many objects simultaneously by means of optical fibers. The telescope has excellent imaging capabilities, and the UW spectropolarimeter provides unique opportunities in this area. Students, as well as faculty and staff, have access to Wisconsin's 26% share of this telescope. Students and faculty also have access to the 0.9 m telescope located near the WIYN observatory.

 

The University of Wisconsin also is a 15% partner in the new international 11 m SALT telescope. SALT (Southern African Large Telescope) will be the largest single optical telescope in the Southern hemisphere, and will have a unique array of state-of-the-art grating, Fabry-Perot, and polarimetric spectrographs for unprecedented exploration of Southern Sky. Our department is also a partner in the Amanda/Ice Cube neutrino telescope in Antarctica.

 

Astronomical observations at the University of Wisconsin trace their origin to the 15" refractor of Washburn Observatory, founded on the campus in 1878. Today in Wisconsin, the Pine Bluff Observing Station (15 miles west of Madison) has 36-inch (instrumented for spectropolarimetry) and 16-inch (instrumented for high-speed photometry) telescopes, as well as a Fabry-Perot wide-field spectrometer. These telescopes are dedicated to unique survey programs studying stellar and circumstellar structure (through polarization), stellar oscillation (through variability), and weak emission from hydrogen gas in the Milky Way and the earth's outer atmosphere. The Astronomy Department also operates a small robotic observatory on Kitt Peak called the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM). WHAM, operated remotely from the Madison campus, is dedicated to the study of faint, diffuse emission lines from the interstellar medium, and has recently completed the first sky survey of the distribution and kinematics of ionized hydrogen in the Galaxy. UW faculty, research staff and students are frequent observers at various ground-based optical, infrared, submillimeter and radio facilities around the world, such as the Kitt Peak National Observatory, the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Palomar Observatory, the James Clerk Maxwell Submillimeter Telescope, the Subaru and Keck telescopes, the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, the Very Large Array, the IRAM 30m millimeter wave telescope in Spain and the Max Planck 100m telescope in Effelsberg, Germany. Students and faculty also are users of space-based facilities, including the Ultraviolet (FUSE and HST) and X-ray (Chandra) orbiting observatories, and preparations are under way for a significant role in the soon to be launched infrared (SIRTF) mission. The multi-wavelength approach to astronomical observation has always characterized Wisconsin research.

 

The University of Wisconsin is active in the development and use of innovative instrumentation.

The UW has long had a tradition of instrumental development that vigorously continues today. Photoelectric photometry was developed at the University of Wisconsin, which was also an early pioneer in space astronomy. In 1959 the University of Wisconsin developed instrumentation for the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, the world's first astronomical satellite. Launched in 1968, it operated successfully for four years. Later one of the original five focal plane instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the High Speed Photometer, was developed and built on the University of Wisconsin campus. Four UW faculty members were on the teams of the first- and second- generation Wide Field/Planetary Camera for the HST, which returned superb images of many objects. The University of Wisconsin developed and flew the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment aboard the two ASTRO shuttle missions, greatly improving the observational database of ultraviolet polarization of a wide range of celestial objects. Current instrumentation development in the department involves the Faint Ultraviolet Spectral Polarimeter (FUSP) (a rocket-borne package), the development of the unique array of imaging spectroscopic instrumentation (the Prime Focus Imaging Spectrograph or PFIS) to be placed at the prime focus of the new 11m SALT telescope, and the construction of optical fiber fed spectrographs for the WIYN and SALT telescopes.

Excellent library, computing and shop facilities are available to support these research and instrumentation activities. The Woodman Astronomical Library is located adjacent to student and faculty offices in Sterling Hall. One of the older astronomical libraries in the country, the collection contains 10,000 volumes, including complete collections of most technical journals. The Department maintains a network of powerful workstations linked to a central processor, as well as high-bandwidth links to supercomputers. Each week we hold a colloquium and a joint seminar with the Astrophysics group in the Physics department.

The friendly and collegial personality of the Department provides an enjoyable and stimulating environment for professional growth as a graduate student. Faculty and graduate students develop close relationships, with all contributing to both the strength of the Department and the advancement of astronomy. We have an excellent record in placing our Ph.D. graduates in postdoctoral research positions, which normally are the next step towards a career in astronomy.