Home | KITP

KITP Explained: What is the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics?

KITP NEWS

More info

Scientists Publish New Findings about the 'Supernova of a Generation'

An international team of scientists, including astrophysicists from UC Santa Barbara, has discovered that a supernova that exploded in August –– dubbed the supernova of a generation –– was a "white dwarf" star, and that its companion star could not have been a "red giant," as previously suspected. The findings are published in two papers in the journal Nature this week.

[Read UCSB Press Release] [Read Caltech Press Release]

UCSB Scientist Contributes to Discovery

An international team of scientists has found the fastest-rotating massive star ever recorded. The star spins around its axis at the speed of 600 kilometers per second at the equator, a rotational velocity so high that the star is nearly tearing apart due to centrifugal forces. This confirms a prediction put forward by astrophysicist Matteo Cantiello, a postdoctoral fellow with UC Santa Barbara's Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, who contributed to the discovery published this week in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

[Read UCSB Press Release]

Simons Foundation to Support Scholars' Program

The Simons Foundation has made a generous award to the KITP to support scientists leaving their home institutions for extended visits to the KITP, and to participate in its activities.

To this end we are establishing the "Simons Distinguished Visiting Scholars".

KITP Seeks Second Deputy Director

Because of the increased level of activities in recent years, KITP seeks to appoint a second full-time Deputy Director to assist with planning and program development, outreach, and administration, starting approximately July 1, 2012. See our ad for further information.

Message From the Director

David Gross Reports on State of the KITP as Presented to Recent NSF Review Committee.
[Director’s Message][Presentation to Review Committee]