Search Publications
Atmospheres of Rocky Exoplanets
Kreidberg, Laura; Wordsworth, Robin
Rocky planets are common around other stars, but their atmospheric properties remain largely unconstrained. Thanks to a wealth of recent planet discoveries and upcoming advances in observing capability, we are poised to characterize the atmospheres of dozens of rocky exoplanets in this decade. The theoretical understanding of rocky exoplanet atmos…
Tidal Disruption Events
Gezari, Suvi
The concept of stars being tidally ripped apart and consumed by a massive black hole (MBH) lurking in the center of a galaxy first captivated theorists in the late 1970s. The observational evidence for these rare but illuminating phenomena for probing otherwise dormant MBHs first emerged in archival searches of the soft X-ray ROSAT All-Sky Survey …
First Multimessenger Observations of a Neutron Star Merger
Chornock, Ryan; Margutti, Raffaella
We describe the first observations of the same celestial object with gravitational waves and light. GW170817 was the first detection of a neutron star merger with gravitational waves. The detection of a spatially coincident weak burst of gamma-rays (GRB 170817A) 1.7 s after the merger constituted the first electromagnetic detection of a gravitatio…
New Insights into Classical Novae
Chomiuk, Laura; Shen, Ken J.; Metzger, Brian D.
We survey our understanding of classical novae-nonterminal, thermonuclear eruptions on the surfaces of white dwarfs in binary systems. The recent and unexpected discovery of GeV gamma rays from Galactic novae has highlighted the complexity of novae and their value as laboratories for studying shocks and particle acceleration. We review half a cent…
The Evolution of the Star-Forming Interstellar Medium Across Cosmic Time
Sternberg, Amiel; Genzel, Reinhard; Tacconi, Linda J.
Over the past decade, increasingly robust estimates of the dense molecular gas content in galaxy populations between redshift z = 0 and the peak of cosmic galaxy/star formation (z ∼ 1-3) have become available. This rapid progress has been possible due to the advent of powerful ground- and space-based telescopes for the combined study of several mi…
Evidence for Initial Mass Function Variation in Massive Early-Type Galaxies
Smith, Russell J.
The initial mass function (IMF), describing the distribution of birth masses of stars, plays a pivotal role in establishing the observable properties of galaxies. This article reviews the evidence for variation in the IMF of massive early-type galaxies (ETGs), especially from spectroscopic studies and from dynamical and gravitational lensing measu…
Star Clusters Across Cosmic Time
Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Krumholz, Mark R.; McKee, Christopher F.
Star clusters stand at the intersection of much of modern astrophysics: the ISM, gravitational dynamics, stellar evolution, and cosmology. Here, we review observations and theoretical models for the formation, evolution, and eventual disruption of star clusters. Current literature suggests a picture of this life cycle including the following sever…
Exoplanetary Atmospheres: Key Insights, Challenges, and Prospects
Madhusudhan, Nikku
Exoplanetary science is on the verge of an unprecedented revolution. The thousands of exoplanets discovered over the past decade have most recently been supplemented by discoveries of potentially habitable planets around nearby low-mass stars. Currently, the field is rapidly progressing toward detailed spectroscopic observations to characterize th…
The Most Luminous Supernovae
Gal-Yam, Avishay
Over a decade ago, a group of supernova explosions with peak luminosities far exceeding (often by >100 times) those of normal events has been identified. These superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) have been a focus of intensive study. I review the accumulated observations and discuss the implications for the physics of these extreme explosions. SLS…
Secular Evolution and the Formation of Pseudobulges in Disk Galaxies
Kormendy, John; Kennicutt, Robert C., Jr.
The Universe is in transition. At early times, galactic evolution was dominated by hierarchical clustering and merging, processes that are violent and rapid. In the far future, evolution will mostly be secular the slow rearrangement of energy and mass that results from interactions involving collective phenomena such as bars, oval disks, spiral st…