{"id":112,"date":"2017-02-02T20:34:40","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T20:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.charlesdermer.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=112"},"modified":"2026-03-20T12:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T17:21:09","slug":"science","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.charlesdermer.com\/wordpress\/science\/","title":{"rendered":"Science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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\"Jim
Jim Ryan (UNH), the late great Trevor Weekes (Smithsonian), and Charles Dermer (NRL) at 30th ICRC. Merida, Mexico 2007<\/sub><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

My PhD, awarded from the UCSD Department of Physics in 1984, was based on a study of plasmas at such high temperatures that they spawn electron-positron pairs and spontaneously cool. Thus  steady thermal plasmas cannot be achieved when it’s really hot—on the order of 1011<\/sup> degrees on the Kelvin scale.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However esoteric, this research has proven to be useful\u00a0in astrophysics and advanced weapons systems employing positrons.\u00a0It also\u00a0has applications in\u00a0studies of jet outflows in blazars and gamma-ray bursts, two classes of\u00a0cosmic objects powered by black holes. The high-energy particle and photon radiations emitted by these black-hole\u00a0engines are powered either by (1) the gravitational potential of\u00a0matter falling onto black holes, or (2) the rotational energy of spinning black holes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"High<\/a>
High Energy Radiation from Black Holes<\/em>, by Charles Dermer and Govind Menon, Princeton University Press, 2009<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

My collaborators and I developed the hypothesis that Active Galactic Nuclei are the sources of the Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays. AGN are a class of unusual Galaxies that have central bright nuclei powered by supermassive black holes. UHECRs are the highest energy particles in Nature. Prof. Govind Menon<\/a> and I wrote a technical monograph on High Energy Radiation from Black Holes<\/a> <\/span>exploring these themes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have authored or co-authored on the order of 300 technical papers, and have nearly 100 sole or first author papers. My h-index<\/a> exceeds 100<\/a>, according to the NASA Astrophysical Data System<\/a>. Some of my best known works are theoretical and numerical analyses of black-hole jets and magnetospheres, cosmic rays, \u03b3 rays, and high-energy neutrinos.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was the lead editor, along with co-editors Mark Strickman and Jim Kurfess, of the 1997 Williamsburg Fourth Compton Symposium. This work summarized the tremendous discoveries of the Compton Gamma Ray  Observatory, launched in 1991 when called the Gamma Ray Obseratory (GRO).<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I am in the process of looking for a publisher for my book Natural Philosophy of Death<\/a><\/em>, which explores the physics of populations and human mortality.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a clip from the Denver centenary workshop on the Discovery of Cosmic Rays that I attended in 2012. Many of the major figures in cosmic-ray research are there, including the late Frank McDonald, Guarang Yodh, Rich Lingenfelter, Tom Gaisser, Angela Olinto, Pierre Sokolsky, Don Ellison, Igor Moskalenko, Isabelle Grenier, Toby Burnett, Virginia Trimble, Don Kniffen, Alex Moiseev, Jordan Goodman…
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