Edward L. (Ned) Wright Astronomy Office: MSA8955 Phone: (310)825-5755 wright@astro.ucla.edu

Educational Background:

ABscl, Harvard Physics, 1969
Ph.D., Harvard Astronomy, 1976

Brief Bio:

Edward L. (Ned) Wright received his AB and PhD degrees from Harvard University, and was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows. After teaching in the MIT Physics Department, Professor Wright has been at UCLA since 1981.

Research Interests:

Prof. Wright is interested in infrared astronomy and cosmology. He was the PI on the Next Generation Sky Survey (NGSS) Midex proposal. He has been working on the COsmic Background Explorer (COBE) since 1978. In 1992 he received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer. Prof. Wright is an Interdisciplinary Scientist on the Space InfraRed Telescope Facility (SIRTF) Science Working Group. He has worked on the SIRTF project since 1976. Prof. Wright has studied fractal dust grains which are able to absorb and emit efficiently at millimeter wavelengths, and thus may be an important factor in studies of the cosmic microwave background. From 1994-1998, he has served as a Science Editor of The Astrophysical Journal. In 1995 he was named the CSEOL Distinguished Scientist of the Year.

Prof. Wright is also working on the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP). MAP is a mission to follow-up the COBE discovery of fluctuations in the early Universe. It will observe the structure of the Universe 300,000 years after the Big Bang with better angular resolution than the COBE mission, and thus be able to detect the seeds of present day superclusters of galaxies. MAP is scheduled for launch in April 2001.

Legend: Temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation after the dipole pattern (due to the Solar System's motion relative to the rest of the Universe) and the strong emission from the Milky Way galaxy have been removed. Based on 4 years of data from COBE.

Selected Publications

Wright, E. L. 2000, ApJ submitted, "DIRBE Minus 2MASS: Confirming the Cosmic Infrared Background at 2.2 Microns".

Wright, E. L. & Reese, E. D. 2000, ApJ in press, "Detection of the Cosmic Infrared Background at 2.2 and 3.5 microns Using DIRBE Observations".

Gorjian, V., Wright, E. L. & Chary, R. R. 2000, ApJ, 536, 550. "Tentative Detection of the Cosmic Infrared Background at 2.2 and 3.5 microns Using Ground Based and Space Based Observations".

Wright, E. L., 1999, presented at the 194th AAS meeting, "Far IR Observations of Distant Galaxies with SPECS"

Hauser et al., 1998, ApJ, 508, 25-43. "The COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment Search for the Cosmic Infrared Background: I. Limits and Detections"

Kelsall et al., 1998, ApJ, 508, 44-73. "The COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment Search for the Cosmic Infrared Background: II. Model of the Interplanetary Dust Cloud"

Arendt et al., 1998, ApJ, 508, 74-105. "The COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment Search for the Cosmic Infrared Background: III. Separation of Galactic Emission from the Infrared Sky Brightness"

Dwek et al., 1998, ApJ, 508, 106-122. "The COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment Search for the Cosmic Infrared Background: IV. Cosmological Implications"

Wright, E. L. 1998, ApJ, 496, 1-8. "Angular Power Spectra of the COBE DIRBE Maps"

Gorjian, V., Wright, E. L. and McLean, I. S. 1997, PASP, 109, 821-826. "Drift Scanning using Infrared Arrays: A Powerful Method for Background-Limited Imaging"

Wright, E. L. "Scanning and Mapping Strategies for CMB Experiments", presented at the IAS CMB Data Analysis workshop, 22 Nov 96.

Wright, E. L., Bennett, C. L., Gorski, K., Hinshaw, G. and Smoot, G. 1996, ApJL, 464, L21-L24. "Angular Power Spectrum of the Microwave Background Anisotropy seen by the COBE DMR"

Wright, E. L. 1996, ApJ, 459, 487-490. "On the Density of Primordial Black Holes in the Galactic Halo"

Wright, E.L., Hinshaw, G., and Bennett, C.L. 1996, ApJL, 458, L53-L56. "Producing Megapixel CMB Maps from Differential Radiometer Data"

Wright, E.L. 1995 MNRAS, 276, 1421-1424. "Comments on the Quasi-Steady-State Cosmology"

Visible Satellite Passes over LA

Papers and preprints

Cosmology Tutorial

Relativity Tutorial

Cosmological fads and fallacies

Some DIRBE animations and pictures

Journal Club Talk on Statistics