Samaya Nissanke

Last updated
Samaya Nissanke
Education Westminster School
Alma mater University of Cambridge
Institut d'astrophysique de Paris
Awards
Scientific career
Institutions Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
California Institute of Technology
Radboud University Nijmegen
University of Amsterdam
Thesis Aspects théoriques de la forme des ondes gravitationnelles pour les phases spiralante et de fusion des systèmes binaires compacts  (2007)

Samaya Michiko Nissanke is an astrophysicist, associate professor in gravitational wave and multi-messenger astrophysics and the spokesperson for the GRAPPA Centre for Excellence in Gravitation and Astroparticle Physics at the University of Amsterdam. [1] [2] She works on gravitational-wave astrophysics and has played a founding role in the emerging field of multi-messenger astronomy. She played a leading role in the discovery paper of the first binary neutron star merger, GW170817, seen in gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation. [3]

Contents

In 2020, she was awarded the New Horizons in Physics Prize from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation with Jo Dunkley and Kendrick Smith for "the development of novel techniques to extract fundamental physics from astronomical data". [4] [5] [6] . She was awarded the 2021 Suffrage Award Award for Engineering and Physical Sciences for "outstanding science, science communication and support for women in STEM," nominated by Prof. Amina Helmi of the University of Groningen.

Early life and education

Nissanke was born in London to a Japanese mother and a Sri Lankan father. She completed her bachelor's and master's degrees in the Natural Sciences Tripos (Physics) at the University of Cambridge. [7] She then joined the Paris Observatory for her postgraduate studies. [7] Nissanke earned her PhD in analytical relativity at the Institut d'astrophysique de Paris in 2007 with a thesis titled Aspects théoriques de la forme des ondes gravitationnelles pour les phases spiralante et de fusion des systèmes binaires compacts (Theoretical aspects of the shape of gravitational waves for the spiraling and merging phases of compact binary systems). [7] [8]

Research

Nissanke completed her postdoctoral research at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, the Jet Propulsion Lab, California Institute of Technology and Radboud University Nijmegen [9] working on gravitational wave and electromagnetic emission from compact object mergers since 2007. [10] [11] [12] [13] She is a member of the Virgo collaboration and works with the BlackGEM, VLA, MeerKAT and LOFAR telescopes and was part of the group that discovered the radio counterpart to GW170817. [14] She demonstrated it was possible to determine the Hubble constant using gravitational wave observations from merging neutron star binaries and how to identify the elusive electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave mergers. [10] [12]

Nissanke was working at Radboud as the group leader for the gravitational wave group when the first detection of gravitational waves was confirmed. [15] [16] In 2016 she was awarded Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) TOP and VIDI grants to study the birth of black holes and neutron star mergers. [17] In June 2018 she joined the faculty at the Gravitational AstroParticle Physics Amsterdam (GRAPPA) Institute at the University of Amsterdam. [18] [19] She is the Astrophysics Working Group Chair of a European Cooperation in Science and Technology Action on Gravitational Waves. [20]

Public engagement

Nissanke is a popular science communicator and has been interviewed by Scientific American , New Scientist , Nature , Vox Media, BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service and Die Zeit . [21] [22] [23] She represented the Virgo Collaboration at the European Southern Observatory press conference in 2017, for the announcement of a merger of neutron stars. [24] Before the detection of gravitational waves, Nissanke joined composer Arthur Jeffes at the Mashmallow Laser Feast to create a piece of music about merging neutron stars and black holes billions of years ago. [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]

Awards and honours

As part of the LIGO Scientific and Virgo Collaborations, Nissanke was awarded the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2016) and the Gruber Prize in Cosmology (2016). In 2019, it was announced that Nissanke would receive the 2020 New Horizons in Physics Prize with Jo Dunkley and Kendrick Smith from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. [30] In 2021 Nissanke received a Suffrage Science award, nominated by Amina Helmi. [31] [32]


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, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects, neutron stars are the smallest and densest currently known class of stellar objects. Neutron stars have a radius on the order of 10 kilometres (6 mi) and a mass of about 1.4 solar masses. They result 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LIGO</span> Gravitational wave detector

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Two large observatories were built in the United States with the aim of detecting gravitational waves by laser interferometry. These observatories use mirrors spaced four kilometers apart which are capable of detecting a change of less than one ten-thousandth the charge diameter of a proton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laser Interferometer Space Antenna</span> European space mission to measure gravitational waves

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a proposed space probe to detect and accurately measure gravitational waves—tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime—from astronomical sources. LISA would be the first dedicated space-based gravitational wave detector. It aims to measure gravitational waves directly by using laser interferometry. The LISA concept has a constellation of three spacecraft arranged in an equilateral triangle with sides 2.5 million kilometres long, flying along an Earth-like heliocentric orbit. The distance between the satellites is precisely monitored to detect a passing gravitational wave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics</span>

The Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics is a Max Planck Institute whose research is aimed at investigating Einstein's theory of relativity and beyond: Mathematics, quantum gravity, astrophysical relativity, and gravitational-wave astronomy. The institute was founded in 1995 and is located in the Potsdam Science Park in Golm, Potsdam and in Hannover where it closely collaborates with the Leibniz University Hannover. Both the Potsdam and the Hannover parts of the institute are organized in three research departments and host a number of independent research groups.

The gravitational wave background is a random gravitational-wave signal potentially detectable by gravitational wave detection experiments. Since the background is supposed to be statistically random, it has yet been researched only in terms of such statistical descriptors as the mean, the variance, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgo interferometer</span> Gravitational wave detector in Santo Stefano a Macerata, Tuscany, Italy

The Virgo interferometer is a large interferometer designed to detect gravitational waves predicted by the general theory of relativity. Virgo is a Michelson interferometer that is isolated from external disturbances: its mirrors and instrumentation are suspended and its laser beam operates in a vacuum. The instrument's two arms are three kilometres long and located in Santo Stefano a Macerata, near the city of Pisa, Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gravitational wave</span> Propagating spacetime ripple

Gravitational waves are waves of the intensity of gravity generated by the accelerated masses of an orbital binary system that propagate as waves outward from their source at the speed of light. They were first proposed by Oliver Heaviside in 1893 and then later by Henri Poincaré in 1905 as waves similar to electromagnetic waves but the gravitational equivalent. Gravitational waves were later predicted in 1916 by Albert Einstein on the basis of his general theory of relativity as ripples in spacetime. Later he refused to accept gravitational waves. Gravitational waves transport energy as gravitational radiation, a form of radiant energy similar to electromagnetic radiation. Newton's law of universal gravitation, part of classical mechanics, does not provide for their existence, since that law is predicated on the assumption that physical interactions propagate instantaneously – showing one of the ways the methods of Newtonian physics are unable to explain phenomena associated with relativity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gravitational-wave astronomy</span> Emerging branch of observational astronomy using gravitational waves

Gravitational-wave astronomy is an emerging branch of observational astronomy which aims to use gravitational waves to collect observational data about objects such as neutron stars and black holes, events such as supernovae, and processes including those of the early universe shortly after the Big Bang.

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

A neutron star merger is a type of stellar collision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilonova</span> Supernova formed from a neutron star merger

A kilonova is a transient astronomical event that occurs in a compact binary system when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole merge. These mergers are thought to produce gamma-ray bursts and emit bright electromagnetic radiation, called "kilonovae", due to the radioactive decay of heavy r-process nuclei that are produced and ejected fairly isotropically during the merger process. The measured high sphericity of the kilonova AT2017gfo at early epochs was deduced from the blackbody nature of its spectrum.

Multi-messenger astronomy is astronomy based on the coordinated observation and interpretation of disparate "messenger" signals. Interplanetary probes can visit objects within the Solar System, but beyond that, information must rely on "extrasolar messengers". The four extrasolar messengers are electromagnetic radiation, gravitational waves, neutrinos, and cosmic rays. They are created by different astrophysical processes, and thus reveal different information about their sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First observation of gravitational waves</span> 2015 direct detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO and VIRGO interferometers

The first direct observation of gravitational waves was made on 14 September 2015 and was announced by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations on 11 February 2016. Previously, gravitational waves had been inferred only indirectly, via their effect on the timing of pulsars in binary star systems. The waveform, detected by both LIGO observatories, matched the predictions of general relativity for a gravitational wave emanating from the inward spiral and merger of a pair of black holes of around 36 and 29 solar masses and the subsequent "ringdown" of the single resulting black hole. The signal was named GW150914. It was also the first observation of a binary black hole merger, demonstrating both the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems and the fact that such mergers could occur within the current age of the universe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vicky Kalogera</span> Greek astrophysicist

Vassiliki Kalogera is a Greek astrophysicist. She is a professor at Northwestern University and the Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA). She is a leading member of the LIGO Collaboration that observed gravitational waves in 2015.

Manuela Campanelli is a distinguished professor of astrophysics and mathematical sciences of the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the director of their Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation and Astrophysics and Space Sciences Institute for Research Excellence. Her work focuses on the astrophysics of merging black holes and neutron stars, which are powerful sources of gravitational waves, electromagnetic radiation and relativistic jets. This research is central to the new field of multi-messenger astronomy.

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

GW 170817 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. The signal was produced by the last minutes of a binary pair of neutron stars' inspiral process, ending with a merger. It is the first GW observation that has been confirmed by non-gravitational means. Unlike the five previous GW detections, which were of merging black holes not expected to produce a detectable electromagnetic signal, the aftermath of this merger was also seen by 70 observatories on 7 continents and in space, across the electromagnetic spectrum, marking a significant breakthrough for multi-messenger astronomy. The discovery and subsequent observations of GW 170817 were given the Breakthrough of the Year award for 2017 by the journal Science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4993</span> Lenticular galaxy in the constellation of Hydra

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Marica Branchesi is an Italian astrophysicist. Her leadership and scientific work was pivotal for Virgo/LIGO's discovery of gravitational waves. She is vice president of International Astronomical Union Gravitational Wave Astrophysics Commission and member of the Gravitational Wave International Committee.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleonora Troja</span> Italian astrophysicist

Eleonora Troja is an Italian astrophysicist. In 2017 she led the discovery of X-ray emission from the gravitational wave source GW170817.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GW190814</span> Gravitational wave of a "mass gap" collision

GW 190814 was a gravitational wave (GW) signal observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors on 14 August 2019 at 21:10:39 UTC, and having a signal-to-noise ratio of 25 in the three-detector network. The signal was associated with the astronomical superevent S190814bv, located 790 million light years away, in location area 18.5 deg2 towards Cetus or Sculptor. No optical counterpart was discovered despite an extensive search of the probability region.

References

  1. ↑ Universiteit van Amsterdam (2019-07-15). "Samaya Nissanke elected GRAPPA spokesperson - IoP - University of Amsterdam". IoP. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  2. ↑ "Members | GRAPPA". Grappa.amsterdam. 2019-08-19. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  3. ↑ Levy, Adam (January 11, 2021). "How black holes morphed from theory to reality". Knowable Magazine. doi: 10.1146/knowable-010921-1 . Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  4. ↑ "Breakthrough Prize – Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize Laureates – Samaya Nissanke". breakthroughprize.org. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  5. ↑ ""A true role model for women in physics": Newnham alumna wins 2020 New Horizons in Physics Prize". Newnham College. 2019-09-13. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  6. ↑ "Caltech Faculty Honored with Breakthrough and New Horizons Prizes". www.caltech.edu. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  7. 1 2 3 "CV and Publications". Samaya Nissanke. 2014-08-19. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  8. ↑ Michiko, Nissanke, Samaya (2006-01-01). Aspects théoriques de la forme des ondes gravitationnelles pour les phases spiralante et de fusion des systèmes binaires compacts (Thesis).
  9. ↑ "Dr Samaya Nissanke". Radboud Excellence Initiative (in Dutch). Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  10. 1 2 Nissanke, Samaya; Holz, Daniel; Hughes, Scott; Dalal, Neal; Sievers, Jonathan (2010). "Exploring Short Gamma-ray Bursts as Gravitational-wave Standard Sirens". The Astrophysical Journal. 725 (1): 496–514. arXiv: 0904.1017 . Bibcode:2010ApJ...725..496N. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/725/1/496. S2CID   14028891.
  11. ↑ Nissanke, Samaya; Sievers, Jonathan; Dalal, Neal (2011). "Localizing compact binary inspirals on the sky using ground-based gravitational wave interferometers". The Astrophysical Journal. 739 (2): 99. arXiv: 1105.3184 . Bibcode:2011ApJ...739...99N. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/739/2/99. S2CID   34839630.
  12. 1 2 Nissanke, Samaya; Kasliwal, Mansi; Georgieva, Alessandra (2013). "Identifying Elusive Electromagnetic Counterparts to Gravitational Wave Mergers: an end-to-end simulation". The Astrophysical Journal. 767 (2): 124. arXiv: 1210.6362 . Bibcode:2013ApJ...767..124N. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/767/2/124. S2CID   40475384.
  13. ↑ Nissanke, Samaya; Holz, Daniel E.; Dalal, Neal; Hughes, Scott A.; Sievers, Jonathan L.; Hirata, Christopher M. (2013-07-09). "Determining the Hubble constant from gravitational wave observations of merging compact binaries". arXiv: 1307.2638 [astro-ph.CO].
  14. ↑ "The LIGO Team Members | The Gruber Foundation". gruber.yale.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  15. ↑ "Samaya Nissanke, gravitational wave specialist about the detection of GW150914". Radboud University (in Dutch). Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  16. ↑ "Gravitational waves exist and can be measured". Radboud University (in Dutch). Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  17. ↑ Ursula. "5,8 miljoen TOP-subsidie voor 16 exacte topwetenschappers". www.nwo.nl. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  18. ↑ "Welcome, Samaya Nissanke! | GRAPPA". grappa.amsterdam. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  19. ↑ Amsterdam, Universiteit van (2018-10-02). "dr. S.M. (Samaya) Nissanke - University of Amsterdam". www.uva.nl. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  20. ↑ "COST | Who's Who". www.cost.eu. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  21. ↑ "Zwaartekrachtsgolf verlicht voor het eerst fatale dans extreem zware zwarte gaten - New Scientist". New Scientist (in Dutch). Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  22. ↑ "Gravitationswellen: Frau Nissanke, bekommen Sie nun den Nobelpreis?". ZEIT ONLINE (in German). Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  23. ↑ "Stars Colliding, The Science Hour - BBC World Service". BBC. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  24. ↑ "Samaya Nissanke at ESO neutron star merger press conference". www.eso.org. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  25. ↑ "SPACE MUSIC". EPC MUSIC. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  26. ↑ "Welcome". Arthur Jeffes. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  27. ↑ "This Composer Made Music Out of Gravitational Waves". Motherboard. 2016-02-17. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  28. ↑ "Einstein's Gravitational Waves Have Been Turned Into Gorgeous Music". Popular Mechanics. 2016-02-17. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  29. ↑ Navarro, Alyssa (2016-02-18). "Gravitational Waves Turned to Music: This Is How Awesome It Sounds". Tech Times. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  30. ↑ "Breakthrough Prize – Winners Of The 2020 Breakthrough Prize In Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics And Mathematics Announced". Break Through Prize. Retrieved October 1, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. ↑ "Dr Samaya Nissanke receives an 'Engineering and Physical Sciences' Suffrage Science award on the scheme's tenth anniversary". University of Amsterdam. 8 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  32. ↑ "Leading women in 'Engineering and Physical Sciences' receive awards on scheme's tenth anniversary". Suffrage Science. 8 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
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