James Lattimer

Last updated
James Lattimer
Born
James Michael Lattimer

(1950-04-12) April 12, 1950 (age 74)
Marion, Indiana
Alma mater University of Notre Dame
University of Texas at Austin
Awards Hans Bethe Prize 2015
Scientific career
Fields nuclear matter, neutron stars, r-process
Institutions Stony Brook University
Doctoral advisor David N. Schramm

James Michael Lattimer (born 12 April 1950 in Marion, Indiana) [1] is a nuclear astrophysicist who works on the dense nuclear matter equation of state and neutron stars. He is currently a distinguished professor at Stony Brook University.

Contents

Career

Lattimer completed his BSc in 1972 at the University of Notre Dame and his PhD in 1976 at the University of Texas at Austin. After postdoc positions at the University of Chicago and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he became a professor at Stony Brook University in 1979 and a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy in 2013. [2]

He is also associate editor of the Physical Review Letters . [3]

Research

Lattimer has made several fundamental contributions to the field of nuclear astrophysics, with a particular focus on neutron stars. One of his biggest impacts was modeling the birth of neutron stars from supernovae in 1986 with then-research assistant professor Adam Burrows. [4] This came just six months before the closest supernova in modern history (SN 1987A, in the LMC). Their paper [5] predicted the signature of neutrinos from supernovae that was subsequently validated by neutrino observations, [6] [7] from SN 1987A on February 23, 1987.

In work that led to his PhD thesis, Lattimer and his advisor David N. Schramm first argued that the mergers of neutron stars and black holes would result in the ejection of neutron-rich matter in sufficient quantities to explain the origin of r-process elements such as gold and platinum. [8] [9] Later, with collaborators, he demonstrated decompressing neutron-star matter from both neutron star-black holes and neutron star-neutron star mergers would form a natural r-process that would match observed patterns. [10] Mass ejection and r-process nucleosynthesis from decompression has been apparently observed [11] in the aftermath of GW170817, the first merger of two neutron stars detected by LIGO/VIRGO. [12] The inferred r-process mass seems sufficient that neutron star mergers are likely the dominant source of these nuclides.

Lattimer and collaborators [13] also proposed that the recently observed [14] rapid cooling of the neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant is the first direct evidence for superfluidity and superconductivity in neutron star interiors. [15] He has collaborated extensively with Madappa Prakash.

Awards and Honors

In 2015, Lattimer was awarded the Hans Bethe Prize for "outstanding theoretical work connecting observations of supernovae and neutron stars with neutrino emission and the equation of state of matter beyond nuclear density." [16]

In 1985, he was awarded the Fullam (Ernest F.) Award from Dudley Observatory (1985).

Lattimer has been elected to the following fellowships: [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neutron star</span> Collapsed core of a massive star

A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star. It results from the supernova explosion of a massive star—combined with gravitational collapse—that compresses the core past white dwarf star density to that of atomic nuclei. Except for black holes, neutron stars are the smallest and densest known class of stellar objects. They have a radius on the order of 10 kilometers (6 mi) and a mass of about 1.4 M☉. Stars that collapse into neutron stars have a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses (M☉), or possibly more for those that are especially rich in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SN 1987A</span> 1987 supernova event in the constellation Dorado

SN 1987A was a type II supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It occurred approximately 51.4 kiloparsecs from Earth and was the closest observed supernova since Kepler's Supernova in 1604. Light and neutrinos from the explosion reached Earth on February 23, 1987 and was designated "SN 1987A" as the first supernova discovered that year. Its brightness peaked in May of that year, with an apparent magnitude of about 3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gravitational collapse</span> Contraction of an astronomical object due to the influence of its gravity

Gravitational collapse is the contraction of an astronomical object due to the influence of its own gravity, which tends to draw matter inward toward the center of gravity. Gravitational collapse is a fundamental mechanism for structure formation in the universe. Over time an initial, relatively smooth distribution of matter, after sufficient accretion, may collapse to form pockets of higher density, such as stars or black holes.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neutron star merger</span> Type of stellar collision

A neutron star merger is the stellar collision of neutron stars. When two neutron stars fall into mutual orbit, they gradually spiral inward due to the loss of energy emitted as gravitational radiation. When they finally meet, their merger leads to the formation of either a more massive neutron star, or—if the mass of the remnant exceeds the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit—a black hole. The merger can create a magnetic field that is trillions of times stronger than that of Earth in a matter of one or two milliseconds. These events are believed to create short gamma-ray bursts.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">GW170817</span> Gravitational-wave signal detected in 2017

GW170817 was a gravitational wave (GW) signal observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors on 17 August 2017, originating from the shell elliptical galaxy NGC 4993, about 140 million light years away. The signal was produced by the last moments of the inspiral process of a binary pair of neutron stars, ending with their merger. It was the first GW observation to be confirmed by non-gravitational means. Unlike the five previous GW detections—which were of merging black holes and thus not expected to produce a detectable electromagnetic signal—the aftermath of this merger was seen across the electromagnetic spectrum by 70 observatories on 7 continents and in space, marking a significant breakthrough for multi-messenger astronomy. The discovery and subsequent observations of GW170817 were given the Breakthrough of the Year award for 2017 by the journal Science.

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References

  1. ↑ American Men and Women of Science, Thomson Gale 2004
  2. ↑ Stony Brook Astronomy webpage
  3. ↑ "PRL Journal Staff". 2007-12-03.
  4. ↑ based on citations from the Astrophysics Data System
  5. ↑ Burrows, A.; Lattimer, J. M. (1986). "The birth of neutron stars". The Astrophysical Journal. 307. IOP Publishing: 178. Bibcode:1986ApJ...307..178B. doi: 10.1086/164405 . ISSN   0004-637X.
  6. ↑ Bionta, R. M.; Blewitt, G.; Bratton, C. B.; Casper, D.; Ciocio, A.; et al. (1987-04-06). "Observation of a neutrino burst in coincidence with supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud". Physical Review Letters. 58 (14). American Physical Society (APS): 1494–1496. Bibcode:1987PhRvL..58.1494B. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.58.1494 . ISSN   0031-9007. PMID   10034451.
  7. ↑ Hirata, K.; Kajita, T.; Koshiba, M.; Nakahata, M.; Oyama, Y.; et al. (1987-04-06). "Observation of a neutrino burst from the supernova SN1987A". Physical Review Letters. 58 (14). American Physical Society (APS): 1490–1493. Bibcode:1987PhRvL..58.1490H. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.58.1490 . ISSN   0031-9007. PMID   10034450.
  8. ↑ Lattimer, J. M.; Schramm, D. N. (1974). "Black-hole-neutron-star collisions". The Astrophysical Journal. 192. IOP Publishing: L145. Bibcode:1974ApJ...192L.145L. doi: 10.1086/181612 . ISSN   0004-637X.
  9. ↑ Lattimer, J. M.; Schramm, D. N. (1976). "The tidal disruption of neutron stars by black holes in close binaries". The Astrophysical Journal. 210. IOP Publishing: 549. Bibcode:1976ApJ...210..549L. doi: 10.1086/154860 . hdl: 2152/35059 . ISSN   0004-637X.
  10. ↑ Lattimer, J. M.; Mackie, F.; Ravenhall, D. G.; Schramm, D. N. (1977). "The decompression of cold neutron star matter". The Astrophysical Journal. 213. IOP Publishing: 225. Bibcode:1977ApJ...213..225L. doi: 10.1086/155148 . hdl: 2152/35110 . ISSN   0004-637X.
  11. ↑ Chornock, R.; Berger, E.; Kasen, D.; Cowperthwaite, P. S.; Nicholl, M.; et al. (2017-10-16). "The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/Virgo GW170817. IV. Detection of Near-infrared Signatures of r-process Nucleosynthesis with Gemini-South". The Astrophysical Journal. 848 (2). American Astronomical Society: L19. arXiv: 1710.05454 . Bibcode:2017ApJ...848L..19C. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa905c . ISSN   2041-8213.
  12. ↑ Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, T. D.; Acernese, F.; Ackley, K.; et al. (2017-10-16). "GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral". Physical Review Letters. 119 (16). American Physical Society (APS): 161101. arXiv: 1710.05832 . Bibcode:2017PhRvL.119p1101A. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.119.161101 . ISSN   0031-9007. PMID   29099225.
  13. ↑ Page, Dany; Prakash, Madappa; Lattimer, James M.; Steiner, Andrew W. (2011-02-22). "Rapid Cooling of the Neutron Star in Cassiopeia A Triggered by Neutron Superfluidity in Dense Matter". Physical Review Letters. 106 (8): 081101. arXiv: 1011.6142 . Bibcode:2011PhRvL.106h1101P. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.106.081101 . ISSN   0031-9007. PMID   21405561.
  14. ↑ Heinke, Craig O.; Ho, Wynn C. G. (2010-08-02). "Direct Observation of the Cooling of the Cassiopeia a Neutron Star". The Astrophysical Journal. 719 (2). IOP Publishing: L167–L171. arXiv: 1007.4719 . Bibcode:2010ApJ...719L.167H. doi: 10.1088/2041-8205/719/2/l167 . ISSN   2041-8205.
  15. ↑ "NASA Press Release". Archived from the original on 2016-01-15. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
  16. ↑ APS Hans A. Bethe Prize
  17. ↑ "Awards by Award | Department of Physics and Astronomy". www.stonybrook.edu. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
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