Vahe Gurzadyan | |
---|---|
Born |
Yerevan |
21 November 1955
Nationality | Armenian |
Fields | mathematical physicist |
Vahagn ("Vahe") Gurzadyan (Armenian: Վահագն Գուրզադյան, born November 21, 1955) is an Armenian mathematical physicist and a professor and head of Cosmology Center at Yerevan Physics Institute, Yerevan, Armenia, best known for co-writing "Concentric circles in WMAP data may provide evidence of violent pre-Big-Bang activity" paper with his colleague Roger Penrose, and collaborating on Roger Penrose's recent book Cycles of Time. Gurzadyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia (then USSR), graduated Yerevan State University (1977), postgraduate student in Theoretical Physics department, Lebedev Physics Institute, Moscow (1977–1980; 1980 PhD.), DSci in Theoretical and mathematical physics (1988).
In 1989 he lectured on dynamical systems in 4 Universities in Japan. Held visiting positions in several Universities: University of Sussex (1996–1997) and since 2001 in University of Rome "Sapienza". His father Grigor Gurzadyan is an Armenian astronomer, pioneer of space astronomy. His grandfather Ashkharbek Kalantar is a Russian Empire and Armenian archaeologist and historian, Fellow of Russian Imperial Archaeological Society and the keeper of the Asiatic Museum in St. Petersburg.
The main topics of his research: chaos in non-linear systems, accretion onto massive black holes, stellar dynamics, observational cosmology.
Gurzadyan has papers predicting elliptical accretion disks formed in galactic nuclei at tidal disruption of stars near massive black holes; the tidal mechanism currently is associated to the flares observed in AGN.