21 UA students contributed to the global effort that led to the creation of the first black hole image



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More than half of the 36 contributors to the Event Horizon telescope at the University of Arizona were students, including Lia Medeiros, a doctoral student who defended her thesis just a few weeks ago.

EHT project scientist and professor in UA Dimitrios Psaltis Medeiros has a "wide range of skills" that allowed it to do everything from the development of new statistical tools to understanding the properties of the black hole image, through the calculation of shapes and sizes. from the size of the black hole shadows if Einstein had not been 100% correct.

Medeiros has also been instrumental in the development and visualization of black hole simulations, said Psaltis.

"It was a moment that changed my life when I realized that the universe could be explained by mathematics," said Medeiros, recalling why she had been interested in the # & # 39; s 39; astronomy. "Black holes are fascinating because of what they do with time.This idea has prevented me from sleeping at night."

UA graduate student Junhan Kim has made four trips to Antarctica to help integrate the South Pole Telescope into the global network. He has also developed statistical tools to compare theories with observations.

In addition, many existing technologies have been reused by students new to DU.

Last semester, William Price and Devin Cameron help Chi-Kwan ChanThe EHT Calculation and Software Working Group and the AU Assistant Astronomer develop the algorithm for creating the black hole simulation that is astonishingly similar to the final image.

"These are impressive projects," said Chan, about students' efforts to test the evolution of simulation to fit the parameters.

In the spring, three undergraduate students – Jose Perez, Elizabeth Champagne and Yuan Jea Hew – created an augmented reality application identifying the EHT telescope sites and providing basic information about each of them. Their project is almost ready for publication, Chan said.

Alexis Tonoco, an undergraduate student involved in the Black Hole Partnerships Program for International Research and Education, has been working on software allowing scientists around the world to analyze their data in the cloud.

Among the other students involved in the global effort to take the first picture of a black hole, there were: graduate students Mel Rose, Tyler Trent, Kaushik Satapathy, David Ball, Carolyn Raithel and Arash Roshanineshat; and undergraduate students Joseph Allen, Anthony Schlecht, Alexis Tinoco, Landen Conway, Ryan Gatski, Dalton Gant, Kaylah McGowan, Gustavo Rodriguez.

All were mentored by Chan and Psaltis, as well as by the Scientific Council of the ESS and AU faculty members. Dan Marrone and Feryal Ozel.

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