Dr. Emory (Ted) F. Bunn
Associate Professor of Physics Blog: http://blog.richmond.edu/physicsbunn My work is in the field of cosmology, the study of the structure, origin, and evolution of the universe on the very largest scales. My students and I analyze and interpret measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation, which is a relic of a time when the universe was only half a million years old (20,000 times younger than today). Maps of this radiation allow us to test models that attempt to explain how galaxies formed, as well as theories about what the universe was like a fraction of a second after the big bang.
D-111 Gottwald Science Center
Office: (804) 287-6486
Fax: (804) 484-1542
http://www.richmond.edu/~ebunn
Our ability to test these theories depends on continuing to develop new telescopes. I am currently working on the design of several new instruments including the Planck Surveyor satellite, scheduled for launch in 2007.
I also do some theoretical work on Einstein's theory of general relativity. A colleague and I recently published an article (available from my web site) on "The Meaning of Einstein's Equation," which provides a novel and (we hope) more comprehensible explanation of the key equation of the theory.
Research:
Big Bang cosmology (theory and data analysis)
Education:
Ph.D., University of California - Berkeley
Selected Publications:
Bunn, E.F. (2007) Systematic Errors in Cosmic Microwave Background Interferometry. Physical Review D, 75, 083517.
Bunn, E.F., & White, M. (2007) Mosaicking with Cosmic Microwave Background Interferometers. Astrophysical Journal, 655, 21 (2007).
Timbie, P.T., Tucker G.S., Ade, P.A.R., Ali, S., Bierman, E., Bunn, E.F., Calderon, C., Gault, A.C., Hyland, P.O., Keating, B.G., Kim, J., Korotkov, A., Malu, S.S., Mauskopf, P., Murphy,, J.A., O'Sullivan, C., Piccirillo, L., & Wandelt, B. (2006) The Einstein Polarization Interferometer for Cosmology (EPIC) and the Millimeter-wave Bolometric Interferometer (MBI). New Astronomy Reviews, 50, 999.
Korotkov, A.L., Kim, J., Tucker, G.S., Gault, A., Hyland, P., Malu, S., Timbie, P.T., Bunn, E.F., Bierman, E., Keating, B., Murphy, A., O'Sullivan, C., Ade, P.A.R., Calderon, C., & Piccirillo, L. (2006) The Millimeter-wave Bolometric Interferometer. Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy III (J. Zmuidzinas et al., eds.), Proceedings of SPIE, 6272, 62750X.
Bunn, E.F. (2006) Probing the Universe on Gigparsec Scales with Remote Cosmic Microwave Background Quadrupole Measurements. Physical Review D, 73, 123517.
Baez, J.C., & Bunn, E.F. (2005) The Meaning of Einstein's Equation. American Journal of Physics, 73, 653.
Bunn, E.F. (2003) Separating E from B. New Astronomy Reviews, 47, 987 (eds. S. Hanany and K.A. Olive).
Bunn, E.F., Zaldarriaga, M., Tegmark, M., & de Oliveira-Costa, A. (2003) E/B Decomposition of Finite Pixelized CMB Maps. Physical Review D, 67, 203501.
Abroe, M.E., Balbi, A., Borrill, J., Bunn, E.F., Hanany, S., Jaffe, A.H., Lee, A.T., Olive, A.K., Rabii, B., Richards, P.L., Smoot, G.F., Stompor, R., Winant, C.D., & Wu, J.H.P. (2002) Frequentist Estimation of Cosmological Parameters from the MAXIMA-1 Data Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy Data. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 334, 11.
Bunn, E.F., Detectability of Microwave Background Polarization. Physical Review D, 65, 043003 (2002).
Bunn, E.F. (2001) Detectability of E- and B-mode CMB Polarization, to appear in Frontiers of the Universe, proceedings of the XIIIth Rencontres de Blois, June 17-23, 2001 (J. Tran Tranh Van et al., eds., Editions Frontieres, France).
Bunn, E.F., & McIrvin, M.J. (2001) Answer to Question #67: How Does the Electric Field Get Out of a Black Hole? American Journal of Physics, 69, 245 (2001).
Bunn, E.F., & Scott, D. (2000) A Preferred-Direction Statistic for Sky Maps. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 313, 331.