Professional Work in Astrophysics
Yun Wang received a bachelor's degree in physics from Tsinghua University in Beijing, after which she came to the United States and obtained her master's and doctorate (also in physics) from Carnegie Mellon University. Currently Associate Professor in the University of Oklahoma's Department of Physics and Astronomy, she has published over 80 refereed papers, most recently specializing on probing the dark energy in the Universe, with particular attention to the use of supernovae and galaxy redshift surveys as cosmological probes, studies of the cosmic microwave background anisotropy, and the measurement of cosmological parameters.
Yun Wang has developed strategies for optimizing future surveys to probe dark energy, and created a mission concept for the NASA-DOE Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM), the Joint Efficient Dark-energy Investigation (JEDI), and served as the Principal Investigator of JEDI. The JEDI/JDEM mission concept illustrates the extraordinary efficiency achievable through innovative instrumentation, and the great scientific advantages of combining three independent observational methods (galaxy clustering, weak lensing, and supernovae) to probe dark energy. JEDI has significantly impacted the design of space missions to probe dark energy.
Yun Wang was elected to be a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2012, with the citation: "For her leadership in dark energy research, especially in developing a robust and consistent framework for analysing and interpreting cosmological data to place model-independent constraints on dark energy, and in optimizing the science return of planned space missions to probe dark energy" (from http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=W&year=2012&unit_id=DAP&institution=)
Her technical monograph
- "Dark Energy" (ISBN 978-3-527-40941-9) has been published by Wiley in 2010.
Her five most-cited recent papers are the following (with citations from INSPIRE-HEP):
- Wang, Yun; Mukherjee, P (October 2006). "Robust Dark Energy Constraints from Supernovae, Galaxy Clustering, and Three-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe Observations". Astrophysical Journal 650 (1): 1–6. arXiv:astro-ph/0604051. Bibcode 2006ApJ...650....1W. doi:10.1086/507091. (Times Cited: 234)
- Wang, Yun; Tegmark, M (June 2004). "New dark energy constraints from supernovae, microwave background, and galaxy clustering". Physical Review Letters 92 (24): 241302. arXiv:astro-ph/0403292. Bibcode 2004PhRvL..92x1302W. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.241302. PMID 15245074. (Times Cited: 221)
- Wang, Yun; Mukherjee, P (May 2004). "Model-independent constraints on dark energy density from flux-averaging analysis of type Ia supernova data". Astrophysical Journal 606 (2): 654–63. arXiv:astro-ph/0312192. Bibcode 2004ApJ...606..654W. doi:10.1086/383196. (Times Cited: 160)
- Wang, Yun; Mukherjee, P (Nov 2007). "Observational constraints on dark energy and cosmic curvature". Physical Review D76 (10): 103533–63. arXiv:astro-ph/0703780. Bibcode 2007PhRvD..76j3533W. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.76.103533. (Times Cited: 145)
- Wang, Yun; Tegmark, M (May 2005). "Uncorrelated Measurements of the Cosmic Expansion History and Dark Energy from Supernovae". Physical Review D71 (10): 103513–63. arXiv:astro-ph/0501351. Bibcode 2005PhRvD..71j3513W. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.71.103513. (Times Cited: 139)
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