Rashid Sunyaev | |
|---|---|
 Sunyaev in 2010 | |
| Born | (1943-03-01)1 March 1943 (age 82) |
| Nationality | Russian, German |
| Alma mater | Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MS), Moscow State University (Ph.D) |
| Known for | Cosmic microwave background radiation |
| Awards | King Faisal International Prize for Physics (2009), Heineman Prize (2003), Crafoord Prize (2008), Kyoto Prize (2011), Dirac Medal, ICTP (2019), Max Planck Medal (2023) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomer |
| Institutions | Russian Academy of Sciences,Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics,Institute for Advanced Study |
| Part of a series on |
| Physical cosmology |
|---|
 |
Early universe |
Components · Structure |
Rashid Alievich Sunyaev (Tatar:Рәшит Гали улы Сөнәев, Russian:Раши́д Али́евич Сюня́ев; born 1 March 1943 inTashkent,USSR) is a German, Soviet, and Russian astrophysicist ofTatar descent.[1] He got his MS degree from theMoscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in 1966. He became a professor atMIPT in 1974. Sunyaev was the head of the High Energy Astrophysics Department of theRussian Academy of Sciences, and has been chief scientist of the Academy's Space Research Institute since 1992. He has also been a director of theMax Planck Institute for Astrophysics inGarching, Germany since 1996, and Maureen and John Hendricks Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at theInstitute for Advanced Study in Princeton since 2010.[2] In February 2022, he signed an open letter from Russian scientists and science journalists condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[3]
Sunyaev andYakov B. Zeldovich developed the theory for the evolution of density fluctuations in the early universe. They predicted the pattern of acoustic fluctuations that have been clearly seen by WMAP and other CMB experiments in the microwave sky and in the large-scale distribution of galaxies. Sunyaev and Zeldovich stated in their 1970 paper, "A detailed investigation of the spectrum of fluctuations may, in principle, lead to an understanding of the nature of initial density perturbations since a distinct periodic dependence of the spectral density of perturbations on wavelength (mass) is peculiar to adiabatic perturbations." CMB experiments have now seen this distinctive scale in temperature and polarization measurements. Large-scale structure observations have seen this scale in galaxy clustering measurements.
WithYakov B. Zeldovich, at the Moscow Institute of Applied Mathematics, he proposed what is known as theSunyaev-Zeldovich effect, which is due toelectrons associated with gas ingalaxy clusters scattering thecosmic microwave background radiation.[4][5][6][7]
Sunyaev andNikolay I. Shakura developed a model ofaccretion ontoblack holes, from a disk,[8] and he has proposed a signature for X-radiation from matter spiraling into a black hole. He has collaborated in important studies of the early universe, including the recombination of hydrogen and the formation of thecosmic microwave background radiation. He led the team which operated the X-ray observatory attached to theKvant-1 module of theMirspace station and also theGRANAT orbiting X-ray observatory. Kvant made the first detection of X-rays from a supernova in 1987. His team is currently preparing theSpectrum-X-Gamma International Astrophysical Project and is working withINTEGRAL spacecraft data. At Garching he is working in the fields of theoretical high energyastrophysics andphysical cosmology and participates in the data interpretation of theESAPlanck spacecraft mission.
