A 20 Thousand Solar Mass Black Hole in the Stellar Cluster G1, Karl Gebhardt, R. M. Rich, and Luis C. Ho

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Education:

• BA physics Pomona College 1979
• PhD California Institute of Technology 1986

General Information:

Research Astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Michael Rich is an Astronomer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California at Los Angeles.

He was born in Los Angeles, California and earned a BA in physics from Pomona College and in 1986, his doctorate in astronomy at the California Institute of Technology. His doctoral supervisor, Dr. Jeremy Mould, was the Principal Investigator of the HST Distance Scale Key Project, which resulted in the most accurate measurement of the Hubble Constant to date. Mould is currently Director of the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatories.

Rich is a former Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow and served on the faculty of Columbia University from 1989-1998. He was also the science lead for stellar populationsin the NGST ad hoc science working group. He is also a member of the science team for the Galaxy Evolution Explorer Satellite, to be launched in 2003. Rich is an active user of the Hubble Space Telescope, and the focus of his research is to learn about the evolution of galaxies from the fossil record of the ages, abundance's, and dynamics of stellar populations in the Local Universe. He is known for his research on the chemical composition of stars in the Galactic bulge and studies of extra galactic stellar populations. In addition to the Hubble Space Telescope, Rich is an active user of the W.M. Keck and Lick Observatories.

Rich has advised 3 Ph.D. theses: Neil Tyson, currently Director of the Hayden Planetarium, Hong Sheng Zhao, currently Lecturer at St. Andrews University, and Edgar Smith, currently president of E.O. Smith & Co. and director of the Calypso telescope on Kitt Peak.

Research Interests:

The central theme of my research is to use the ages, chemistry, kinematics, and structure of stellar populations at the present epoch (the “fossil record”) as a constraint and primary source of information on theories of galaxy formation and evolution. I believe that these data are complementary to the inferences drawn by study of the distant Universe, and that a successful theory of galaxy formation/evolution must satisfy constraints from both the fossil record and the distant Universe. A major new emphasis has been my participation in planning the Next Generation Space Telescope, especially the scientific case for research in stellar populations with NGST.

Other Interests:

Chemical evolution; Stellar spectroscopy, abundances; Stellar dynamics and properties of bulge/spheroidal populations; Stellar populations and globular clusters; Ages of stars; asymptotic giant branch stars and stellar evolution; Galaxy formation and evolution; Optical and infrared instrumentation. 

Selected Recent Publications:

New High Proper Motion Stars from the Digitized Sky Survey. I. Northern Stars with 0.5" <???????? at Low Galactic Latitudes: Lepine, s., Shara, M., Rich, R.M. 2002 AJ, 123, 1190

The White Dwarf Cooling Sequence of the Globular Cluster Messier 4: Hansen, B.M.S., Brewer, J., Fahlman, GG., Gibson, B.K., Ibata, R., Limongi, M., Rich, R.M., Richer, H.B., Shara, M.M., Stetson, P.B.: 2002, ApJ, 574, 155.

High Resolution Infrared Spectra of Bulge Globular Clusters: Liller 1 and NGC 6553: Origlia, L., Rich, R.M., Castro, S. 2002 AJ 123 1559.

First Spatial/Spectral Resolution of a Stellar Atmosphere using the Keck Telescope: Castro, S., Gould,A., Rich, M. et al: 2001 ApJ 548 L97.

Abundances of Stars in the Galactic Bulge Obtained using the Keck Telescope: 2000 SPIE, 4005, 150 astro/ph 0005113.

Two Groups of Nearly Coeval Star Clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud” Rich, R.M., Shara, M.M., Fall, S.M., & Zurek, D. 2000, AJ, in press

The Initial Mass Function fo the Galactic Bulge Down to _0.15M: Zoccali, M., Cassisi, S., Frogel, J.A., Gould, A., Ortolani, S., Renzini, A., Rich, R.M., & Stephens, A.W. 2000, ApJ, in press

Hubble Space Telescope/NICMOS Observations of Massive Stellar Clusters near the Galactic Center: Figer, D.F., Kim, S.S., Morris, M., Serabyn, E., Rich, R.M., McLean, I.: 1999, ApJ 525,750

Nova Sagittarii 1994 1 (V4332 Sagittarii): The Discovery and Evolution of an Unusual Luminous Red Variable Star” Martini, P., Wagner, R., Tomaney, A., Rich, R.M., della Valle, M., & Hauschildt, P.H. 1999 AJ1181034

Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Galactic Globular Cluster Cores. I. NGC 6362 and NGC 6934: Piotto, G., Zoccali, M., King, I.R., Djorgovski, S.G., Sosin, C., Dorman, B., Rich, R.M., & Meylan, G. 1999 AJ 117 264

Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Galactic Globular Cluster Cores. II: NGC 6273 and The Problem of Horizontal-Branch Gaps: Piotto, G., Zoccali, M., King, I.R., Djorgovski, S.G., Sosin, C., Rich, R.M., & Meylan, G. 1999 AJ1181727

High-Resolution Infrared Imaging and Spectroscopy of the Pistol Nebula: Evidence for Ejection Figer, D.F., Morris, M., Geballe, T.R., Rich, R.M., Serabyn, E., Mclean, I.S., Puetter, R.C., & Yahil, A. 1999 ApJ 525 759

HST-NICMOS Color Transformations and Photometric Calibrations” Stephens, A.W., Frogel, J.A., Ortolani, S., Davies, R., Jablonka, P., Renzini, A., & Rich, R.M. 1999, AJ, submitted

Discovery of Extended Blue Horizontal Branches in Two Metal-rich Globular Clusters” Rich, R.M., Sosin, C., Djorgovski, S.G., Piotto, G., King, I., Renzini, A., Phinney, E.S., Dorman, B., Liebert, J., & Meylan, G. 1997 ApJ484L25

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