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  • Gravity & the Extreme Universe

Gravity & the Extreme Universe

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For most of human history, our only information about the Universe came from visible light. Later we learned to detect other forms of electromagnetic radiation like infrared and radio waves. Now we can detect gravitational waves, opening the door to new ways of observing and understanding the Universe. Astronomers, cosmologists, physicists, and computer scientists in the Gravity & the Extreme Universe program ask questions about the nature of extreme gravity, the origin and evolution of the universe, and the structure of compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars, as well as profound questions about fundamental physics and astrophysics.

 

RESEARCH AND SOCIETAL IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS

Outrigger telescope boosts the search for fast radio bursts

A collaborative Catalyst Fund project led by several program members is pushing forward the CIFAR-catalyzed CHIME fast radio burst (FRB) project to build outrigger telescopes. The building of these outrigger telescopes, which will be located at 1,000 kilometre distances from CHIME itself, will enable the localization of FRBs to sub-arcsecond precision to identify their host galaxies and distances. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has expanded upon this effort by providing $11M CAD, that will support the design and construction of the outrigger telescopes.

Mapping the structure of the universe

The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) telescope made its first detection of cosmologically neutral hydrogen gas. The resulting data will be used to trace the expansion history of the Universe and determine the properties of “dark energy” that is driving the acceleration of that expansion. This has profound implications for understanding the fate of our universe and the physics of the space-time vacuum. CHIME is funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and several provincial government partners, with additional support from NSERC and CIFAR.

Understanding the mysterious phenomenon of fast radio bursts

Program members made major strides toward better understanding fast radio bursts (FRBs) thanks to several major research findings. The discovery of the nearest FRB in the close spiral galaxy M81 by Program Director and R. Howard Webster Foundation Fellow Victoria Kaspi and Fellow Matt Dobbs (both McGill University) offers an important new opportunity to study FRBs up close. Program members including Matt Dobbs, Victoria Kaspi, Ue-Li Pen (University
of Toronto), Scott Ransom (National Radio Astronomy Observatory), Kendrick Smith (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics), Ingrid Stairs (University of British Columbia), and Shriharsh P. Tendulkar (National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) collaborated on the detection of a FRB showing a variation in the arrival times of pulses that strongly suggests it originates from a neutron star. Kaspi and Fellows Matt Dobbs, Mark Halpern (University of British Columbia), Gary Hinshaw (University of British Columbia), Ue-Li Pen, Scott Ransom, Kendrick Smith, Ingrid Stairs, and S. P. Tendulkar also published the first major FRB catalogue.

A collaboration between astronomy and AI

Following up on a 2020 roundtable that discussed how AI algorithms used in analyzing astronomical and cosmological data can be applied to other fields, program members are working together with Canada CIFAR AI Chairs to plan a workshop that will further explore the intersection of astronomy/cosmology .and AI/machine learning to be held in 2022.

PATH TO SOCIETAL IMPACT

We invite experts in industry, civil society, healthcare and government to join fellows in our Gravity & the Extreme Universe program for in-depth, cross-sectoral conversations that drive change and innovation.

Academic and industrial experts in biomedical data analysis and artificial intelligence and CIFAR fellows in the Gravity & the Extreme Universe program are bringing about new technological innovations by using data science techniques from astronomy and cosmology to address complex challenges in genomics and medical imaging, and vice versa.

Areas of focus:

  • Finding opportunities for advanced image analysis to be deployed across disciplines
  • Identifying key areas, such as image classification or data processing, where researchers and industry can collaborate.

Founded

1986

Renewal Dates

1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016

Supporters

R. Howard Webster Foundation

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Astrophysics
Astronomy
Astroparticle, computational, high energy and particle physics
Observational cosmology

CIFAR Contact

Fiona Cunningham

Fellows & Advisors

Program Director

Victoria M. Kaspi

Victoria M. Kaspi

Program Director
R. Howard Webster Foundation Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
McGill University
Canada

Fellows

Lars Bildsten

Lars Bildsten

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of California Santa Barbara
United States
J. Richard Bond

J. Richard Bond

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of Toronto
Canada
Mark C. Chen

Mark C. Chen

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Queen's University
Canada
Matthew W. Choptuik

Matthew W. Choptuik

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of British Columbia
Canada
Matt Dobbs

Matt Dobbs

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
McGill University
Canada
Richard S. Ellis

Richard S. Ellis

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University College London
United Kingdom
Mark Halpern

Mark Halpern

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of British Columbia
Canada
Gary Hinshaw

Gary Hinshaw

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of British Columbia
Canada
Gilbert Holder

Gilbert Holder

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
United States
Vicky Kalogera

Vicky Kalogera

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Northwestern University
United States
Victoria M. Kaspi

Victoria M. Kaspi

Program Director
R. Howard Webster Foundation Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
McGill University
Canada
Juna A. Kollmeier

Juna A. Kollmeier

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Carnagie Observatories
CITA
University of Toronto
United States
Luis Lehner

Luis Lehner

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Perimeter Institute
Canada
Arthur B. McDonald

Arthur B. McDonald

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Queen's University
Canada
Robert C. Myers

Robert C. Myers

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Canada
Julio F. Navarro

Julio F. Navarro

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of Victoria
Canada
Barth Netterfield

Barth Netterfield

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of Toronto
Canada
John A. Peacock

John A. Peacock

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Ue-Li Pen

Ue-Li Pen

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of Toronto
Canada
Harald P. Pfeiffer

Harald P. Pfeiffer

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of Toronto
Canada
E. Sterl Phinney

E. Sterl Phinney

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
California Institute of Technology
United States
Frans Pretorius

Frans Pretorius

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Princeton University
United States
Scott Ransom

Scott Ransom

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
United States
Joseph Silk

Joseph Silk

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Johns Hopkins University
United States
Kendrick Smith

Kendrick Smith

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Canada
David Spergel

David Spergel

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Princeton University
United States
Ingrid Stairs

Ingrid Stairs

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of British Columbia
Canada
Neil Turok

Neil Turok

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Canada
William G. Unruh

William G. Unruh

Associate Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of British Columbia
Canada
Matias Zaldarriaga

Matias Zaldarriaga

Fellow

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Institute for Advanced Study
United States

Advisors

Roger Blandford

Roger Blandford

Advisor

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Stanford University
United States
Gabriela González

Gabriela González

Advisor

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Louisiana State University
United States
Lyman Page

Lyman Page

Advisor

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Princeton University
United States
Eva Silverstein

Eva Silverstein

Advisor

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Stanford University
United States
Scott D. Tremaine

Scott D. Tremaine

Advisory Committee Chair

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Institute for Advanced Study
United States
Simon White

Simon White

Advisor

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
Germany

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars

Yacine Ali-Haïmoud

Yacine Ali-Haïmoud

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
New York University
United States
Iair Arcavi

Iair Arcavi

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2019-2021

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Tel Aviv University
Israel
Sarah Burke-Spolaor

Sarah Burke-Spolaor

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2018-2020

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
West Virginia University
United States
Maria R. Drout

Maria R. Drout

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2018-2020

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of Toronto
Canada
Daryl Haggard

Daryl Haggard

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2017-2019

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
McGill University
Canada
Renée Hložek

Renée Hložek

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2019-2021

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of Toronto
Canada
Adrian Liu

Adrian Liu

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2018-2020

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
McGill University
Canada
Katherine Mack

Katherine Mack

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
North Carolina State University
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Canada
Raffaella Margutti

Raffaella Margutti

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2019-2021

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of California Berkeley
United States
Ajith Parameswaran

Ajith Parameswaran

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2017-2019

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
India
Shriharsh Tendulkar

Shriharsh Tendulkar

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024

Gravity & the Extreme Universe
National Centre for Radio Astrophysics
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
India

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