Annika Peter |
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Information: Postdoctoral Scholar in Physics California Institute of Technology MC 249-17 1216 East California Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91125 +1 (626) 395-6719 apeter [at] astro.caltech.edu |
Education:
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| Pasadena, CA, March 2009 |
***Caltech Dark Matter Discussion Group Wiki***
Welcome to my homepage! I am currently a postdoc at Caltech. My primary scientific interests are dark matter phenomenology and precision estimates of the dark matter distribution in the Solar System; systematics in dark matter experiments; solar system and galactic dynamics; and galaxy evolution (mostly related to the dark content, and how it responds to baryonic happenings). Prior to my employment at Caltech, I was a graduate student in the Physics Department at Princeton University, where I wrote my thesis on "Particle Dark Matter in the Solar System" under the supervision of Scott Tremaine (now at the Institute for Advanced Study). Prior to that, I was an undergraduate at the University of Washington in Seattle, my hometown.
If you happen to find yourself in Pasadena and are looking to learn some interesting astrophysics, a good place to start would be the astronomy events calendar, where you will find a listing of the week's astro talks in town. The non-numerical GR part of the theoretical astrophysics group (TAPIR without the "IR") meets on Tuesdays at 5 in the TAPIR interaction room in Cahill to learn useful cosmology-related physics. Drop by if you are interested. We recently finished reading through the decadal survey white papers and Binney and Merrifield's classic Galactic Astronomy book. We'll be starting new things in fall 2009 after the summer hiatus.
If you are interested in learning something about dark matter, feel free to stop by our monthly Caltech Dark Matter Discussion Group meetings. Meeting times and agenda are located on the wiki.
If you happen to find yourself in Princeton, you can find a list of interesting talks to attend on the IAS Astrophysics Seminar Calendar.
When I am not doing science, I enjoy playing with and photographing my cats, traveling with my husband Chris, reading up on anything and everything, and enjoying local restaurants. I absolutely love living in California, with my only gripes being that I still haven't found a decent hoagie, and natural disasters are relatively imminent threats. If you know where to find a good cheese steak or cheap earthquake insurance, please let me know!