Contact Information
1002 W. Green St.
Urbana, IL 61801
MC-221
Research Areas
Research Interests
I am fascinated by the "inner space/outer space" connections that link the science at the smallest and largest scales. My research focusses on the highest-energy sites in nature--the big bang, exploding stars (supernovae), and high-energy particles in space (cosmic rays)--where nuclear physics and elementary particle physics play a central role. Understanding these processes and their interplay allows us to trace the history of matter over cosmic time. Turning the problem around, I use these high-energy phenomena as particle accelerators to probe fundamental physics in ways inaccessible to terrestrial experiment.
Education
PhD in Physics. U. of Chicago 1994.
AB in Physics and English. Williams College 1989.
Courses Taught
ASTR 210: Introduction to Astrophysics (Spring 2018)
ASTR 401 Scientific Writing for ASTR 406 (Fall 2013)
ASTR 406 - Galaxies and the Universe ( Fall 2013)
ASTR 350: Introduction to Cosmology (Fall 2011)
ASTR 596/496:The Art and Practice of Astronomy (FA14, FA15)
ASTR 596/496 PC: Physical Cosmology (Spring 2010)
ASTR 596/496 NPA: Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics (Fall 2009)
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor, Astronomy
Professor, Physics
External Links
Recent Publications
Ellis, J., Fields, B. D., & Surman, R. (2024). Do we owe our existence to gravitational waves? Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics, 858, Article 139028. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2024.139028
Ertel, A. F., & Fields, B. D. (2024). Distances to Recent Near-Earth Supernovae from Geological and Lunar 60Fe. Astrophysical Journal, 972(2), Article 179. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad5a93
Perkins, H. M. L., Ellis, J., Fields, B. D., Hartmann, D. H., Liu, Z., McLaughlin, G. C., Surman, R., & Wang, X. (2024). Could a Kilonova Kill: A Threat Assessment. Astrophysical Journal, 961(2), Article 170. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad12b7
Smith, L., Miller, J. A., & Fields, B. D. (2024). Nearby Supernova and Cloud Crossing Effects on the Orbits of Small Bodies in the Solar System. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 974(2), Article L29. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad7e1a
Yeh, T. H., Olive, K. A., & Fields, B. D. (2024). Limits on non-relativistic matter during Big-bang nucleosynthesis. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2024(7), Article 016. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2024/07/016