Larry Widrow

Larry Widrow is a Professor in the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy at Queen’s University, where he has been since 1993. He is a member of the Astrophysics Research Group and focuses on galactic astronomy, dark matter, and cosmology. His work explores interactions between stellar disks of galaxies and their dark matter halos, including the Milky Way and Andromeda. He co-proposed the term Galactoseismology to study disk dynamics via astrometric data from the SEGUE survey and collaborates on analyzing Gaia satellite data.

• Education:
• Bachelor's in Physics from Stanford University
• PhD in Physics from the University of Chicago (advisor: Michael Turner)
• Postdoctoral research at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA)

His research interests include early universe cosmology, particle astrophysics, and galactic dynamics. Notable contributions include proposing sterile neutrinos as warm dark matter and a baryogenesis model without explicit baryon number violation. He co-developed the GalactICS code for galactic dynamics simulations and participated in surveys like MEGA (constraining MACHOs in M31) and PANDAS (mapping Andromeda's stellar structures).

Current projects involve modeling Gaia data to study Milky Way disk perturbations, potentially linked to dark matter subhalos or satellite interactions. His work bridges theory, computational astrophysics, and data science.

Advising & Collaborations: Long-term collaboration with Scott Dodelson (Carnegie Mellon) on dark matter and cosmology. Active in interdisciplinary teams like the Astrophysics Research Group at Queen’s.

Labs/Teams: Co-developer of GalactICS simulation code. Involved in MEGA and PANDAS surveys.