Niel Brandt has been at Penn State since 1997 and is currently a professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics. Previously he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a graduate student at the University of Cambridge. Brandt uses a wide variety of astronomical facilities, often operating in the high-energy band, to study the physics, evolution, and ecology of active galaxies and other cosmic X-ray sources. He is an author of more than 600 research papers and leads a small research group including postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students. He also regularly teaches courses on high-energy astrophysics, black holes, and active galaxies.
W. Niel Brandt's research group
| Name | Role | Affiliation | Phone | Office Address | Affiliated Center(s) | Research Topics(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Yasaman Homayouni | Postdoc | Astronomy | ybh5251@psu.edu | +1 814 865 0418 | 525, though working remotely until fall 2022. Davey Laboratory | CTOC | Black Holes |
 | Zhibo Yu | Graduate Student | Astronomy | zvy5225@psu.edu | +1 814 2329588 | 440 Davey Laboratory | IGC | Dynamic Universe |
 | Fan Zou | Graduate Student | Astronomy | fuz64@psu.edu | -- | 535A Davey Laboratory | IGC |
W. Niel Brandt's research group news
NASA’s Chandra identifies a black hole whose bark is worse than its bite
2024-03-21
Astronomers have revealed that a brilliant supermassive black hole is not living up to expectations. Although it is responsible for high levels of radiation and powerful jets, this giant black hole is not as influential on its surroundings as many of its counterparts in other galaxies. A team including IGC faculty W. Niel Brandt, the Eberly Family Chair Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics and professor of physics at Penn State, recently published this study in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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Sarah Gallagher honored with Outstanding Science Alumni Award
2023-04-25
Gallagher is the director of the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for Earth and Space Exploration and a professor of physics and astronomy at Western University in London, Canada. Her astrophysics research focuses on the powerful light-driven winds that emanate from supermassive black holes. She uses both ground and space-based observatories that span the electromagnetic spectrum to reveal the mechanisms that link the growth of the black hole found in the center of every massive galaxy to the galaxy itself. She is engaged in planning and advocating for next generation observatories to enable an ambitious science program to use time domain astrophysics—exploring how cosmic objects change over time, especially on relative short time scales—to map black holes’ inner regions.
As the first science advisor to the president of the Canadian Space Agency, Gallagher advised the agency’s Executive Committee on issues related to science investments and capacity development. She served as a liaison to the academic space science community and other government departments via the Departmental Science Advisor Network of Canada’s Chief Science Advisor. During her two terms, she advised on Open Science policies and co-founded Can COVID, the pan-Canadian pandemic research network. She teaches physics and astronomy and regularly communicates to the public about the value of space science and exploration.
Sarah obtained her Ph.D. with IGC faculty member Niel Brandt, working on X-ray observations of quasar absorption lines
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Discovery of Massive Early Galaxies Defies Prior Understanding of the Universe
2023-02-23
Six massive galaxies discovered in the early universe are upending what scientists previously understood about the origins of galaxies in the universe.
“These objects are way more massive than anyone expected,” said Joel Leja, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State, who modeled light from these galaxies. “We expected only to find tiny, young, baby galaxies at this point in time, but we’ve discovered galaxies as mature as our own in what was previously understood to be the dawn of the universe.”
Using the first dataset released from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the international team of scientists discovered objects as mature as the Milky Way when the universe was only 3% of its current age, about 500-700 million years after the Big Bang. The telescope is equipped with infrared-sensing instruments capable of detecting light that was emitted by the most ancient stars and galaxies. Essentially, the telescope allows scientists to see back in time roughly 13.5 billion years, near the beginning of the universe as we know it, Leja explained.
“This is our first glimpse back this far, so it’s important that we keep an open mind about what we are seeing,” Leja said. “While the data indicates they are likely galaxies, I think there is a real possibility that a few of these objects turn out to be obscured supermassive black holes. Regardless, the amount of mass we discovered means that the known mass in stars at this period of our universe is up to 100 times greater than we had previously thought. Even if we cut the sample in half, this is still an astounding change.
In a paper published today (Feb. 22) in Nature, the researchers show evidence that the six galaxies are far more massive than anyone expected and call into question what scientists previously understood about galaxy formation at the very beginning of the universe.
“The revelation that massive galaxy formation began extremely early in the history of the universe upends what many of us had thought was settled science,” said Leja. “We’ve been informally calling these objects ‘universe breakers’ — and they have been living up to their name so far.”
Leja explained that the galaxies the team discovered are so massive that they are in tension with 99% of models for cosmology. Accounting for such a high amount of mass would require either altering the models for cosmology or revising the scientific understanding of galaxy formation in the early universe — that galaxies started as small clouds of stars and dust that gradually grew larger over time. Either scenario requires a fundamental shift in our understanding of how the universe came to be, he added.
“We looked into the very early universe for the first time and had no idea what we were going to find,” Leja said. “It turns out we found something so unexpected it actually creates problems for science. It calls the whole picture of early galaxy formation into question.”
On July 12, NASA released the first full-color images and spectroscopic data from the James Webb Space Telescope. The largest infrared telescope in space, Webb was designed to see the genesis of the cosmos, its high resolution allowing it to view objects too old, distant or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope.
“When we got the data, everyone just started diving in and these massive things popped out really fast,” Leja said. “We started doing the modeling and tried to figure out what they were, because they were so big and bright. My first thought was we had made a mistake and we would just find it and move on with our lives. But we have yet to find that mistake, despite a lot of trying.”
Leja explained that one way to confirm the team’s findings and alleviate any remaining concerns would be to take a spectrum image of the massive galaxies. That would provide the team data on the true distances, and also the gasses and other elements that made up the galaxies. The team could then use the data to model a clearer picture of what the galaxies looked like, and how massive they truly were.
“A spectrum will immediately tell us whether or not these things are real,” Leja said. “It will show us how big they are, how far away they are. What’s funny is we have all these things we hope to learn from James Webb and this was nowhere near the top of the list. We’ve found something we never thought to ask the universe — and it happened way faster than I thought, but here we are.”
The other co-authors on the paper are Elijah Mathews and Bingjie Wang of Penn State, Ivo Labbe of the Swinburne University of Technology, Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University, Erica Nelson of the University of Colorado, Rachel Bezanson of the University of Pittsburgh, Katherine A. Suess of the University of California and Stanford University, Gabriel Brammer of the University of Copenhagen, Katherine Whitaker of the University of Massachusetts and the University of Copenhagen, and Mauro Stefanon of the Universitat de Valencia.
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Junyu Zhang selected as Eberly College of Science’s Fall 2022 Student Marshal
2022-12-14
Junyu Zhang of Chongqing, China, will be honored as the student marshal for the Eberly College of Science during Penn State’s fall commencement ceremonies on Saturday, Dec. 17, on the University Park campus.
Zhang will graduate with a 4.0 grade point average and bachelor’s degrees in astronomy, physics, and mathematics. He is a Schreyer Scholar in the Schreyer Honors College and has been a member of the Dean’s List every semester. Zhang has been honored with several awards and scholarships, including the John and Elizabeth Holmes Teas Scholarship from 2021 to 2022, the Bert Elsbach Honors Scholarship from 2020 to 2021, the Evan Pugh Scholar Senior Award in 2021, and the President’s Freshman Award in 2020.
“It is my great honor to be selected as student marshal for the Eberly College of Science,” he said. “I could not have achieved such a huge accomplishment without the support of my family, my mentors, my professors, and my friends. Therefore, I would like to share this honor with them.”
While at Penn State, Zhang conducted research with both Joel Leja, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics, and Niel Brandt, Verne M. Willaman Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics and professor of physics. In his work with Leja, Zhang used a computer code called Prospector to investigate various wavelengths of light that are emitted by galaxies in order to identify markers that might distinguish galaxies that normally form stars from “rejuvenating galaxies” that fully quench—stop producing stars—and then become star-forming once more. Because rejuvenating galaxies are rare in the universe, these studies may help astronomers better understand the conditions under which stars and galaxies form. With Brandt, Zhang used data from X-ray surveys to identify active galactic nuclei found at the centers of some galaxies that have high redshift—the light they give off is skewed toward the red end of the spectrum due to their distance from Earth—and to better understand how they affect their host galaxies.
“The most important lesson that I will take with me from my time at Penn State is to follow your heart,” Zhang said. “One of the bravest decisions I ever made was to transfer to Penn State and change my major. Although I lost almost all three years I spent at my original university, I am now able to study what I love and achieve such an accomplishment like becoming a student marshal.”
After graduation, Zhang plans to continue his research in astronomy by pursuing a graduate degree.
Zhang is a graduate of Chongqing Nankai Secondary School in Chongqing, China. His parents are Li Mu and Kedi Zhang.
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