Dr. Joseph Gelfand is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. It is widely held that massive stars end their lives in core-collapse supernovae that produce neutron stars, which are most commonly observed as radio pulsars. However, few core-collapse supernova remnants show evidence for a neutron star, and these neutron stars are often very different from radio pulsars. The cause of this diversity is a mystery, and the solution lies in determining the link between the progenitor supernova and the newly formed neutron star. Dr. Gelfand will apply a new method he developed to determine simultaneously the supernova and neutron-star properties from observations of pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe), the synchrotron nebulae powered by neutron stars. The results of this work will be very useful in determining the physical mechanism behind core-collapse supernovae and is important in interpreting new results coming from HESS and soon from GLAST and VERITAS, since PWNe are a major component of the Galactic gamma-ray population.
Dr. Gelfand will also develop a curriculum for a new astronomy lab course at UMass that focuses on modern data reduction and will host an astronomy- and physics-themed radio program on UMass Student Radio that both focuses on new developments in astronomy and provides an informal way for the public to interact with a professional astronomer.
