Yun Wang

Yun Wang

Yun Wang (born 1964) is a poet and professor of astrophysics specializing in cosmology. She is originally from Gaoping, a small town near Zunyi, in Guizhou Province, China. Her poetry books include The Carp from Bull Thistle Press, and The Book of Jade (ISBN 1-58654-023-8) from Story Line Press.

Professional work in astrophysics

Yun Wang received a bachelor's degree in physics from Tsinghua University in Beijing, after which she came to the United States and obtained her master's and doctorate (also in physics) from Carnegie Mellon University. Currently Associate Professor in the University of Oklahoma's Department of Physics and Astronomy, she has published around 80 refereed papers, most recently specializing on probing the dark energy in the Universe, with particular attention to the use of supernovae and galaxy redshift surveys as cosmological probes, studies of the cosmic microwave background anisotropy, and the measurement of cosmological parameters.

Yun Wang is an internationally acknowledged leader in exploring dark energy. She has developed strategies for optimizing future surveys to probe dark energy, and created a mission concept for the NASA-DOE Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM), the Joint Efficient Dark-energy Investigation (JEDI), and served as the Principal Investigator of JEDI. The JEDI/JDEM mission concept illustrates the extraordinary efficiency achievable through innovative instrumentation, and the great scientific advantages of combining three independent observational methods (galaxy clustering, weak lensing, and supernovae) to probe dark energy. Her work on JEDI has significantly impacted the design of space missions to probe dark energy.

Her technical monograph

• "Dark Energy" (ISBN 978-3-527-40941-9) has been published by Wiley in 2010. This book has been adopted by the Scientific American Book Club.

Her five most-cited recent papers are the following (with citations from SPIRES):

• Wang, Yun (2006). "Robust Dark Energy Constraints from Supernovae, Galaxy Clustering, and Three-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe Observations". Astrophysical Journal. 650 (1): 1–6. arXiv:astro-ph/0604051. Bibcode:2006ApJ...650....1W. doi:10.1086/507091. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) (Times Cited: 231)
• Wang, Yun (2004). "New dark energy constraints from supernovae, microwave background, and galaxy clustering". Physical Review Letters. 92 (24): 241302. arXiv:astro-ph/0403292. Bibcode:2004PhRvL..92x1302W. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.241302. PMID 15245074. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) (Times Cited: 218)
• Wang, Yun (2004). "Model-independent constraints on dark energy density from flux-averaging analysis of type Ia supernova data". Astrophysical Journal. 606 (2): 654–63. arXiv:astro-ph/0312192. Bibcode:2004ApJ...606..654W. doi:10.1086/383196. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) (Times Cited: 160)
• Wang, Yun (2007). "Observational constraints on dark energy and cosmic curvature". Physical Review. D76 (10): 103533–63. arXiv:astro-ph/0703780. Bibcode:2007PhRvD..76j3533W. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.76.103533. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) (Times Cited: 142)
• Wang, Yun (2005). "Uncorrelated Measurements of the Cosmic Expansion History and Dark Energy from Supernovae". Physical Review. D71 (10): 103513–63. arXiv:astro-ph/0501351. Bibcode:2005PhRvD..71j3513W. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.71.103513. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) (Times Cited: 136)

References

• The Quest for Dark Energy:High Road or Low? Science (magazine), VOL 309 2 September 2005 p. 1483
• New Data on 2 Doomsday Ideas, Big Rip vs. Big Crunch by James Glantz, New York Times, February 21, 2004
• Cosmic Doomsday Delayed by Mark Peplow Nature, no. 41101, 2004 (subscription required)
• ESI Special Topic: Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Interview with Prof. Yun Wang and Prof. Max Tegmark (April 2007)

External links

• Yun Wang's home page at the University of Oklahoma