Abigail Vieregg

Last updated
Abigail Vieregg
Other namesAbby Vieregg
Alma mater Dartmouth College, B.A. 2004
University of California, Los Angeles, Ph.D., 2010
Awards Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, 2019
Scientific career
Fields physics, cosmology, neutrino astrophysics
Institutions Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 2010 — 2013
University of Chicago, 2014 – present
Thesis The Search for Astrophysical Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos Using Radio Detection Techniques  (2010)
Website https://kicp.uchicago.edu/~avieregg/ https://physics.uchicago.edu/people/profile/abigail-vieregg/

Abigail Goodhue Vieregg is a professor of physics at the Enrico Fermi Institute and Kavli Institute of Cosmology, University of Chicago, [1] specializing in neutrino astrophysics and cosmology. Her work focuses on cosmic high-energy neutrinos and mapping the cosmic microwave background. [2]

Contents

Education

Vieregg received a B.A. in physics from Dartmouth College in 2004, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2010. [3] [1] Her Ph.D. dissertation, The Search for Astrophysical Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos Using Radio Detection Techniques, [4] focused on the detection of subatomic particles called neutrinos through radio pulses that arise from the neutrinos' interactions with matter. In it, she analyzes data from ANITA-II, the second flight of the ANITA experiment, [5] a balloon-based study of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos interacting in the Antarctic ice, and set the strongest parameter limits to date for cosmic neutrinos with energies between 1018 and 1021 electronvolts.

Professional career

From 2010 to 2013, Vieregg was a postdoctoral fellow [6] of the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs, [7] at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, [3] where she continued research on the ANITA experiment, and also worked on the Keck Array polarimeter. [8] In 2014, Vieregg joined the University of Chicago faculty as assistant professor, [1] and was promoted to associate professor in 2019. [9]

Research

Vieregg studies ultrahigh-energy neutrinos — neutrinos with energies of more than 1018 electronvolts — that originate from beyond the Milky Way galaxy, shedding light on the nature of neutrinos and helping to home in on extragalactic sources of the particle. Vieregg is involved in a number of cosmic-neutrino experiments, including the balloon-borne ANITA experiment and the Askaryan Radio Array experiment, [10] [11] which uses detectors buried in the Antarctic ice to search for signals resulting from the interaction of cosmic high-energy neutrinos. She is the principal investigator for the proposed Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observation (PUEO) experiment, [12] [13] [14] another Antarctic, long-duration balloon mission that would be 10 times more sensitive than ANITA, [15] [16] and the Radio Neutrino Observatory (RNO) in Greenland [17] [18] —a ground-based neutrino search that builds on the Askaryan Radio Array experiment.

Vieregg's research also focuses on mapping the cosmic microwave background, or CMB, the relic light from the early moments of the universe, to illuminate the universe's early history. She is involved with the South-Pole based Keck Array and BICEP3 experiments, [19] which measure CMB polarization. She is the technical coordinator and an executive member of CMB-S4, [20] which will use 21 telescopes at the South Pole and the Chilean Atacama Cosmology Telescope to survey the microwave sky.

Vieregg was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award in 2019. [2] [21] [22]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosmic microwave background</span> Trace radiation from the early universe

The cosmic microwave background is microwave radiation that fills all space in the observable universe. It is a remnant that provides an important source of data on the primordial universe. With a standard optical telescope, the background space between stars and galaxies is almost completely dark. However, a sufficiently sensitive radio telescope detects a faint background glow that is almost uniform and is not associated with any star, galaxy, or other object. This glow is strongest in the microwave region of the radio spectrum. The accidental discovery of the CMB in 1965 by American radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson was the culmination of work initiated in the 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe</span> NASA satellite of the Explorer program

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), originally known as the Microwave Anisotropy Probe, was a NASA spacecraft operating from 2001 to 2010 which measured temperature differences across the sky in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) – the radiant heat remaining from the Big Bang. Headed by Professor Charles L. Bennett of Johns Hopkins University, the mission was developed in a joint partnership between the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Princeton University. The WMAP spacecraft was launched on 30 June 2001 from Florida. The WMAP mission succeeded the COBE space mission and was the second medium-class (MIDEX) spacecraft in the NASA Explorer program. In 2003, MAP was renamed WMAP in honor of cosmologist David Todd Wilkinson (1935–2002), who had been a member of the mission's science team. After nine years of operations, WMAP was switched off in 2010, following the launch of the more advanced Planck spacecraft by European Space Agency (ESA) in 2009.

Observational cosmology is the study of the structure, the evolution and the origin of the universe through observation, using instruments such as telescopes and cosmic ray detectors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna</span>

The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment has been designed to study ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic neutrinos by detecting the radio pulses emitted by their interactions with the Antarctic ice sheet. This is to be accomplished using an array of radio antennas suspended from a helium balloon flying at a height of about 37,000 meters.

Astroparticle physics, also called particle astrophysics, is a branch of particle physics that studies elementary particles of astronomical origin and their relation to astrophysics and cosmology. It is a relatively new field of research emerging at the intersection of particle physics, astronomy, astrophysics, detector physics, relativity, solid state physics, and cosmology. Partly motivated by the discovery of neutrino oscillation, the field has undergone rapid development, both theoretically and experimentally, since the early 2000s.

The Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI) was a telescope installed at the U.S. National Science Foundation's Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. It was a 13-element interferometer operating between 26 and 36 GHz in ten bands. The instrument is similar in design to the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) and the Very Small Array (VSA). In 2001 The DASI team announced the most detailed measurements of the temperature, or power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). These results contained the first detection of the 2nd and 3rd acoustic peaks in the CMB, which were important evidence for inflation theory. This announcement was done in conjunction with the BOOMERanG and MAXIMA experiment. In 2002 the team reported the first detection of polarization anisotropies in the CMB.

The Hans A. Bethe Prize, is presented annually by the American Physical Society. The prize honors outstanding work in theory, experiment or observation in the areas of astrophysics, nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics, or closely related fields. The prize consists of $10,000 and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BICEP and Keck Array</span> Series of cosmic microwave background experiments at the South Pole

BICEP and the Keck Array are a series of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. They aim to measure the polarization of the CMB; in particular, measuring the B-mode of the CMB. The experiments have had five generations of instrumentation, consisting of BICEP1, BICEP2, the Keck Array, BICEP3, and the BICEP Array. The Keck Array started observations in 2012 and BICEP3 has been fully operational since May 2016, with the BICEP Array beginning installation in 2017/18.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uroš Seljak</span> Slovenian cosmologist

Uroš Seljak is a Slovenian cosmologist and a professor of astronomy and physics at University of California, Berkeley. He is particularly well-known for his research in cosmology and approximate Bayesian statistical methods.

Marc Kamionkowski is an American theoretical physicist and currently the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. His research interests include particle physics, dark matter, inflation, the cosmic microwave background and gravitational waves.

John Michael Kovac is an American physicist and astronomer. His cosmology research, conducted at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, focuses on observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) to reveal signatures of the physics that drove the birth of the universe, the creation of its structure, and its present-day expansion. Currently, Kovac is Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Harvard University.

Michele Limon is an Italian research scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. Limon studied physics at the Università degli Studi di Milano in Milan, Italy and completed his post-doctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been conducting research for more than 30 years and has experience in the design of ground, balloon and space-based instrumentation. His academic specialties include Astrophysics, Cosmology, Instrumentation Development, and Cryogenics.

Suzanne T. Staggs is an American physicist who is currently the Henry DeWolf Smyth Professor of Physics at Princeton University. Staggs has led the development of numerous cosmic microwave background experiments and is currently the principal investigator (PI) of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and founding member of the Simons Observatory (SO). In 2020, Staggs was elected into the National Academy of Sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Dunkley</span> British astrophysicist

Joanna Dunkley is a British astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at Princeton University. She works on the origin of the Universe and the Cosmic microwave background (CMB) using the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, the Simons Observatory and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Olinto</span> Astroparticle physicist and professor

Angela Villela Olinto is an astroparticle physicist and the Albert A. Michelson Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago as well as the dean of the Physical Sciences Division. Her current work is focused on understanding the origin of high-energy cosmic rays, gamma rays, and neutrinos.

The Bartol Research Institute is a scientific research institution at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Delaware. Its members belong to the faculty of the University of Delaware and perform research in areas such as astroparticle physics, astrophysics, cosmology, particle physics, and space science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Péter Mészáros</span> American astrophysicist

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Cora Dvorkin is an Argentine physicist, who is a professor at the physics department at Harvard University. Dvorkin is a theoretical cosmologist. Her areas of research are: the nature of dark matter, neutrinos and other light relics, and the physics of the early universe. Dvorkin is the Harvard Representative at the newly NSF-funded Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI)'s Board. In 2022, she was voted “favorite professor” by the Harvard senior Class of 2023. She has been awarded the 2019 DOE Early Career award and has been named the "2018 Scientist of the year" by the Harvard Foundation for "Salient Contributions to Physics, Cosmology and STEM Education". She has also been awarded a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship and a Shutzer Professorship at the Radcliffe Institute. In 2018 she was awarded a Star Family Challenge prize for Promising Scientific Research, which supports high-risk, high-impact scientific research at Harvard. In 2020, Dvorkin gave a talk on machine learning applied to the search for dark matter as part of the TEDx Río de la Plata event.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Abigail Vieregg | Department of Physics | The University of Chicago". physics.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  2. 1 2 3 "White House honors two UChicago scientists for innovative research". University of Chicago News. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  3. 1 2 "INSPIRE". inspirehep.net. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  4. ↑ Vieregg, Abigail Goodhue (2010). The Search for Astrophysical Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos Using Radio Detection Techniques (Thesis). ProQuest   861322502.
  5. ↑ "Research @ KICP | Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, ANITA". kicp.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  6. ↑ "NSF Award Search: Award#1103553 - PostDoctoral Research Fellowship". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  7. ↑ "Office of Polar Programs (OPP) | NSF - National Science Foundation". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  8. ↑ "AstroMcGill Podcasts - Season 2 | McGill University Astrophysics and Cosmology Group". astro.physics.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  9. ↑ "Congratulations Abigail Vieregg | News | Department of Physics | The University of Chicago". physics.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  10. ↑ "ARA - ARA". ara.wipac.wisc.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  11. ↑ "KICP People | Abigail G. Vieregg". kicp.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  12. ↑ "The Vieregg Lab". kicp.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  13. ↑ "PUEO Selected by NASA for Pioneers Program | News | Department of Physics | The University of Chicago". physics.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  14. ↑ Allison, P.; Alvarez-Muñiz, J.; Beatty, J. J.; Besson, D. Z.; Chen, P.; Chen, Y.; Clem, J. M.; Connolly, A.; Cremonesi, L.; Deaconu, C.; Gorham, P. W. (2021). "The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO): A white paper". Journal of Instrumentation. 16 (8): P08035. arXiv: 2010.02892 . Bibcode:2021JInst..16P8035A. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/16/08/P08035. S2CID   222142356.
  15. ↑ "Scientists didn't detect a parallel universe in Antarctica. But they are learning more about mysterious, ghostly neutrinos". KSLNewsRadio. 2020-05-27. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  16. ↑ "The Hunt Is On for Elusive Ghost Particles in Antarctica". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  17. ↑ "RNO-G | The Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland". radio.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  18. ↑ Aguilar, J. A.; Allison, P.; Archambault, S.; Beatty, J. J.; Besson, D. Z.; Botner, O.; Buitink, S.; Chen, P.; Clark, B. A.; Connolly, A.; Deaconu, C. (2019-09-12). "The Next-Generation Radio Neutrino Observatory -- Multi-Messenger Neutrino Astrophysics at Extreme Energies". Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 51 (7): 218. arXiv: 1907.12526 . Bibcode:2019BAAS...51g.218C.
  19. ↑ "Research @ KICP | BICEP2/The Keck Array/BICEP3". kicp.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  20. ↑ "CMB-S4 | Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics | The University of Chicago". kavlicosmo.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  21. 1 2 "NASA Scientists, Engineers Honored with Presidential Early Career Awards". www.spaceref.com. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  22. 1 2 NASA. "NASA Scientists, Engineers Honored with Presidential Early Career Awards". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  23. ↑ "Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowships in Astrophysics for Early Career Researchers | Science Mission Directorate". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  24. ↑ "Past Fellows". sloan.org. Archived from the original on 2018-03-14. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  25. ↑ Brief History of the Shakti P. Duggal Award, Bartol Research Institute
  26. ↑ Advancement, Research Corporation for Science. "Cottrell Scholar Award". Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  27. ↑ Advancement, Research Corporation for Science. "Cottrell Scholar Award" (PDF). Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
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