Pappalardo Fellows

MENG SU
Pappalardo Fellow in Physics: 2012-2015

Meng Su

Name: Meng Su

Title(s): Pappalardo Fellow in Physics: 2012-2015

Email: mengsu@SPACE.MIT.EDU

Phone: (617) 253-7456

Address:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Bldg. 37-675
Cambridge, MA 02139

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Area of Physics:

Theoretical/Experimental Astrophysics

Research Interests

Meng Su is interested broadly in cosmology and high energy astrophysics. He uses gamma-ray/X-ray/microwave/radio observations to study the diffuse emission from the Milky Way, the cosmic ray acceleration and propagation, and the supermassive black hole in the Galaxy. Along with Doug Finkbeiner and Tracy Slatyer, Su has discovered a giant gamma-ray bubble structure in the Milky Way (named, "Fermi Bubble"), which has been selected as one of the top ten physics-related news in 2011 by the American Physical Society. Su has also been studying varies topics in cosmology, including detection of B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), primordial non-Gaussianity of CMB, gravitational lensing of CMB, cosmic reionization, possible Lorentz violation in the early Universe, and constraining properties of dark energy using various cosmological probes.

Biographical Sketch

Meng Su is completing his Ph.D. in astrophysics at Harvard University, working with advisor Prof. Douglas Finkbeiner. He has been working with Prof. John Kovac on the BICEP experiment at the South Pole, and Prof. Matias Zaldarriaga on various topics in cosmology. Before going to Harvard, Su received his undergraduate degree in physics from Peking University (Beijing University) in 2007. He is originally from Taiyuan in China.

Selected Publications

  • "Giant Gamma-ray Bubbles from Fermi-LAT: AGN Activity or Bipolar Galactic Wind?", Meng Su, Tracy R. Slatyer, Douglas P. Finkbeiner, Astrophysics Journal, 724, 1044, arXiv:1005.5480, 2011.
  • "Reconstruction of Patchy Reionization from Cosmic Microwave Background", Meng Su, Matthew McQuinn, Amit P. S. Yadav, Jaiyul Yoo, and Matias Zaldarriaga, 2011, arXiv:1106.4313, 2011.
  • "Impact of Instrumental Systematics on the CMB Bispectrum", Meng Su, Amit P. S. Yadav, Meir Shimon, Brian G. Keating, Physical Review D, 79, 123002, arXiv:1010.1957, 2010.
  • "Primordial B-mode Diagnostics and Self Calibrating the CMB Polarization", Amit P. S. Yadav, Meng Su, Matias Zaldarriaga, Physical Review D, 81, 063512, arXiv:0912.3532, 2010.
  • "Impact of Instrumental Systematic Contamination on the Lensing Mass Reconstruction using the CMB Polarization", Meng Su, Amit P. S. Yadav, Matias Zaldarriaga, Physical Review D, 79, 123002, arXiv:0901.0285, 2009.