Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

SU, Partners to Study Black Holes and Neutron Stars

Thursday, September 19, 2013, By Rob Enslin
Share
College of Arts and SciencesResearch and Creative

Professor Duncan Brown receives NSF grant to help establish astrophysics network

Physicists in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences have received a major federal grant to create the tools needed to understand the collisions of black holes and neutron stars. The project is part of a national multiinstitutional initiative called the Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics Network (TCAN), targeting fundamental issues in theoretical and computational astrophysics.

Duncan Brown

Duncan Brown

Associate Professor Duncan Brown, along with physicists from Cornell University, the California Institute of Technology and the University of Washington, have received a three-year $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish a TCAN network.

In 2015, NSF’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) at Caltech will begin studying the gravitational-wave sky. Gravitational waves are produced when black holes and neutron stars collide at very high speeds—speeds so high that Einstein’s theory of relativity comes into play.

“A neutron star is a giant atomic nucleus, the size of a city,” says Brown, an expert in theoretical astrophysics and gravitational waves. “If you smash two of these stars together at one-tenth the speed of light, you’re going to get fireworks.”

These electromagnetic fireworks may be witnessed by NASA’s Fermi and Swift satellites, as well as by wide-field optical telescopes, such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Together with LIGO’s gravitational-wave signals, these “multi-messenger” observations will propel a revolution in the study of neutron stars and black holes, some of nature’s most compact objects.

“But first, we need to understand the physics of the collisions,” says Brown.

Enter TCAN, the brainchild of the NSF’s Division of Astronomical Sciences and NASA’s Astrophysics Division. TCAN seeks to unite researchers in collaborative networks across institutional and geographical divides, in hopes of addressing key “frontier” questions about astrophysics beyond the scope of regular research grants and programs.

NSF's Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) at Caltech

NSF’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) at Caltech

“By confronting our theoretical knowledge of gravity and nuclear physics, with multi-messenger observations, we can use black holes and neutron stars as cosmic laboratories to explore the nature of matter and gravity,” says Brown. “The theoretical and computational tools that allow us to interpret these observations, however, are in their infancy. This grant supports a coordinated effort to create these tools.”

TCAN will develop computer algorithms that allow for large-scale explorations of merger and stellar collapse simulations. Specifically, it will explore the microphysics needed as inputs for these simulations, as well as the gravitational-wave and electromagnetic signatures produced.

“All code will be released as open-source [software], and microphysics inputs will be freely available to everyone,” says Brown, adding that outreach videos, containing visualizations and researcher interviews, will be disseminated via YouTube for each new result. “This will facilitate reproducibility and will accelerate scientific discovery.”

Each TCAN network is highly integrative and is made up of groups of researchers at each institution called “nodes.” Brown’s network encompasses two numerical relativists (Christian Ott, assistant professor of theoretical astrophysics at Caltech, and Saul Teukolsky, the Hans A. Bethe Professor of Physics and Astrophysics at Cornell) and a nuclear astrophysicist (Sanjay Reddy, professor of physics at Washington). The network plans to add four graduate students and four postdoctoral fellows, all of whom will be cross-trained in modeling, microphysics and multi-messenger observations.

“This grant will support sustained, coordinated efforts in physics research, while training the future workforce of theoretical and computational scientists,” says Brown.

 

  • Author

Rob Enslin

  • Recent
  • Syracuse Stage Hosts Inaugural Julie Lutz New Play Festival
    Wednesday, May 28, 2025, By News Staff
  • Timur Hammond’s ‘Placing Islam’ Receives Journal’s Honorable Mention
    Tuesday, May 27, 2025, By News Staff
  • Expert Available to Discuss DOD Acceptance of Qatari Jet
    Thursday, May 22, 2025, By Vanessa Marquette
  • Syracuse University 2025-26 Budget to Include Significant Expansion of Student Financial Aid
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By News Staff
  • Light Work Opens New Exhibitions
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By News Staff

More In STEM

University’s Dynamic Sustainability Lab and Ireland’s BiOrbic Sign MOU to Advance Markets for the Biobased Economy

This month at the All Island Bioeconomy Summit held in Co. Meath, Ireland, it was announced that BiOrbic, Research Ireland Centre for Bioeconomy, comprising 12 leading Irish research universities in Ireland, signed a joint memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Dynamic Sustainability…

Professor Bing Dong Named as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The College of Engineering and Computer Science has named Bing Dong as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This endowed professorship is made possible by a 1998 gift from the late Fritz Traugott H’98 and his wife, Frances….

Physics Professor Honored for Efforts to Improve Learning, Retention

The Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) has made some big changes lately. The department just added an astronomy major approved by New York State and recently overhauled the undergraduate curriculum to replace traditional labs with innovative…

ECS Team Takes First Place in American Society of Civil Engineers Competition

Civil and environmental engineering student teams participated in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Sustainable Solutions and Steel Bridge competitions during the 2025 Upstate New York-Canada Student Symposium, winning first place in the Sustainable Solutions competition. The symposium was…

Chloe Britton Naime Committed to Advocating for Improved Outcomes for Neurodivergent Individuals

Chloe Britton Naime ’25 is about to complete a challenging and rare dual major program in both mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering and Computer Science and neuroscience from the College of Arts and Sciences. Even more impressive? Britton…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.