WUSTL physicist is named DOE outstanding investigator

Oct. 25, 2004 -- Henric S. Krawczynski, Ph.D., assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, received the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Outstanding Junior Investigator Award in high-energy physics, one of eight scientists in the country to receive the prestigious recognition in 2004.

"I am delighted that Henric Krawczynski has received this award from the DOE," said John W. Clark, Ph.D., the Wayman Crow Professor and chair of physics at Washington University. "This is a distinctive signal of research excellence and promise. The department can be very proud of Henric for achieving this recognition after such a short time with us."

Henric S. Krawczynski

Krawczynski, who joined the department in 2002, received the award for his research proposal titled "Using VERITAS to Explore Super-massive Black Holes and Early Structure Formation in the Universe."

The award, which identifies new, talented high-energy physicists early in their careers and assists and facilitates the development of their research programs, will provide Krawczynski $55,000 per year until tenure. The award also guarantees him top priority for steady, long-term support after tenure.

VERITAS, the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System that is under construction on Kitt Peak in southern Arizona, will consist of four 12-meter-diameter optical reflectors with ultrafast cameras. When completed in 2006, it will be one of the most sensitive very high-energy gamma-ray observatories in the world.

The observations with VERITAS will be a key to understanding many physical processes in nature.

Krawczynski's proposal described using these next-generation telescopes to study highly relativistic plasma outflows from supermassive black holes, which are found in the centers of galaxies. The gamma-ray emission from these objects can be used to study the process of their growth by swallowing ambient interstellar matter.

In addition, the strong gamma-ray emission probes the extragalactic infrared radiation background, which contains key information about star formation.

He also proposed developing a follow-up experiment to VERITAS, consisting of two 50-meter-diameter telescopes.

Krawczynski and his WUSTL colleague James H. Buckley, Ph.D., associate professor of physics and a 1998 recipient of the DOE's Outstanding Junior Investigator Award, are part of an international collaboration building VERITAS.

A native of Germany, Krawczynski earned a master's degree in 1994 and a doctorate in 1997, both in physics from the University of Hamburg.

Before joining the WUSTL faculty, he was a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics and a researcher and instructor in Yale University's astronomy department.

Editor's note: Krawczynski is a resident of Kirkwood, Mo. (63122).