Gordon Baym

About

Gordon Baym is a Research Professor and the George and Ann Fisher Professor in Engineering Emeritus at the University of Illinois, with additional titles as Professor of Physics Emeritus and affiliated with the Center for Advanced Study. He received his bachelor's degree in physics from Cornell University in 1956, his A.M. in mathematics from Harvard in 1957, and his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard in 1960. He joined the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois as an assistant professor in 1963. Professor Baym has been a major leader in the study of matter under extreme conditions in astrophysics and nuclear physics, making original, seminal contributions to our understanding of neutron stars, relativistic effects in nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, quantum fluids, and Bose-Einstein condensates. His work is characterized by a superb melding of basic theoretical physics concepts across condensed matter, nuclear, and elementary particle physics. He pioneered the application of field-theory methods in quantum condensed matter systems and has elucidated the nuclear physics of neutron star crusts, structure, and formation in supernovae explosions. His studies of the deep interiors of neutron stars have been seminal, addressing the fundamental nature of pion condensed states, quark matter, and the quark-gluon plasma. Professor Baym has also been an advocate for laboratory experiments on matter under extreme conditions, playing a leadership role in the…

Research topics

• Physics
• Computer Science
• Algorithm
• Nuclear physics
• Quantum mechanics
• Particle physics

Selected publications

• New Neutron Star Equation of State with Quark–Hadron Crossover

  The Astrophysical Journal · 2019-10-29 · 179 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract We present a much improved equation of state for neutron star matter, QHC19, with a smooth crossover from the hadronic regime at lower densities to the quark regime at higher densities. We now use the Togashi et al. equation of state, a generalization of the Akmal–Pandharipande–Ravenhall equation of state of uniform nuclear matter, in the entire hadronic regime; the Togashi equation of state consistently describes nonuniform as well as uniform matter, and matter at beta equilibrium with…

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• Implications of NICER for Neutron Star Matter: The QHC21 Equation of State

  The Astrophysical Journal · 2022 · 68 citations

  Abstract The recent NICER measurement of the radius of the neutron star PSR J0740+6620, and the inferred small variation of radii from 1.4 to 2.1 M ⊙ , reveal key features of the equation of state of neutron star matter. The pressure rises rapidly in the regime of baryon density n ∼ 2–4 times nuclear saturation density, n 0 —the region where we expect hadronic matter to be undergoing transformation into quark matter—and the pressure in the nuclear regime is greater than predicted by microscopic…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Continuity of vortices from the hadronic to the color-flavor locked phase in dense matter

  Physical review. D/Physical review. D. · 2019-02-07 · 44 citations

  articleOpen access

  We study how vortices in dense superfluid hadronic matter can connect to vortices in superfluid quark matter, as in rotating neutron stars, focusing on the extent to which quark-hadron continuity can be maintained. As we show, a singly quantized vortex in three-flavor symmetric hadronic matter can connect smoothly to a singly quantized non-Abelian vortex in three-flavor symmetric quark matter in the color-flavor locked phase, without the necessity for boojums appearing at the transition.

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• Effective repulsion in dense quark matter from nonperturbative gluon exchange

  Physical review. D/Physical review. D. · 2019-08-20 · 40 citations

  articleOpen access

  A moderately strong vector repulsion between quarks in dense quark matter is needed to explain how a quark core can support neutron stars heavier than 2 solar masses. We study this repulsion, parametrized by a four-fermion interaction with coupling ${g}_{V}$, in terms of nonperturbative gluon exchange in QCD in the Landau gauge. Matching the energy of quark matter ${g}_{V}{n}_{q}^{2}$ (where ${n}_{q}$ is the number density of quarks) with the quark exchange energy calculated in QCD with a gluon…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Searching for low mass dark matter via phonon creation in superfluid <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mrow><mml:mi>He</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/><mml:mrow><mml:mn>4</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:mrow></mml:math>

  Physical review. D/Physical review. D. · 2020 · 21 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  We consider the scattering of dark matter particles from superfluid liquid $^{4}\mathrm{He}$, which has been proposed as a target for their direct detection. Focusing on dark matter masses below $\ensuremath{\sim}1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$, we demonstrate from sum-rule arguments the importance of the production of single phonons with energies $\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\lesssim}1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{meV}$. We show further that the anomalous dispersion of phonons in liquid $^{4}\mathr…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Microscopic Theory of Many-Particle Systems

  NSF · $770k · 2007–2011

• Properties of Condensed Matter Systems and Field Theories (Materials Research)

  NSF · $460k · 1982–1985

• Theoretical Nuclear Physics

  NSF · $870k · 1998–2002

Frequent coauthors

• C. J. Pethick

  161 shared

• Tetsuo Hatsuda

  66 shared

• Jean-Paul Blaizot

  Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives

  48 shared

• Toru Kojo

  29 shared

• Philip D. Powell

  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  26 shared

• Markus Holzmann

  Graz University of Technology

  24 shared

• Naoki Yamamoto

  Kagoshima University

  23 shared

• C. J. Pethick

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  18 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Electrical Engineering

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  1985

• M.S., Electrical Engineering

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  1981

• B.S., Electrical Engineering

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  1979

Awards & honors

• APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research, 2021
• Lars Onsager Prize, American Physical Society, 2008
• Hans A. Bethe Prize, APS (2002)
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow (1965-1967)
• University Scholar (1987-1990)

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