Fred Adams

Fred C. Adams (born 1961) is an American astrophysicist who has made contributions to the study of physical cosmology.

Fred Adams is professor of physics at the University of Michigan, where his main field of research is astrophysics theory focusing on star formation, background radiation fields, and the early universe.

Biography

He was educated at Iowa State University, where he earned his B.S. in 1983, and at University of California, Berkeley, earning his Ph.D. in 1988. He continued his research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Adams works in the general area of theoretical astrophysics with a focus on the study of star formation and cosmology. He is internationally recognized for his work on the radiation signature of the star formation process, the dynamics of circumstellar disks, and the physics of molecular clouds. He has received recognition as an astrophysicist including the Robert J. Trumpler Award and the Helen B. Warner Prize. His recent work in star formation includes the development of a theory for the initial mass function for forming stars and studies of extra-solar planetary systems. In cosmology, he has studied many aspects of the inflationary universe, cosmological phase transitions, magnetic monopoles, cosmic rays, anti-matter, the cosmic background radiation, galactic halos of dark matter, and the long-term future of the universe.

He is the co-author of the book The Five Ages of the Universe with Greg Laughlin.

Writings

He has written many scientific research articles including:

• Proton Decay, Black Holes, and Large Extra Dimensions, (F. C. Adams, G. L. Kane, M. Mbonye, and M. J. Perry), International Journal of Modern Physics A 16, 2399-2410 hep-ph/0009154 (2001).
• Modes of Multiple Star Formation, (F. C. Adams and P. C. Myers), The Astrophysical Journal 553 744-753 astro-ph/0102039 (2001). A Theoretical Model for the Mbh— ó Relation for Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxies, (F. C. Adams, D. S. Graff, and D. O. Richstone), The Astrophysical Journal Letters 551, L31-35 astro-ph/0010549 (2001).
• Stability and Chaos in the Upsilon Andromedae Planetary System, (G. Laughlin and F. C. Adams), The Astrophysical Journal 526, 881-889 (1999).
• A Dying Universe: The Long Term Fate and Evolution of Astrophysical Objects, (F. C. Adams and G. Laughlin), Reviews of Modern Physics 69, 337-372 (1997).
• A Theory of the Initial Mass Function for Star Farmation in Molecular Clouds, (F. C. Adams and M. Fatuzzo), The Astrophysical Journal 464, 256-271 (1996).
• Vortices in Circumstellar Disks, (F. C. Adams and R. Watkins), The Astrophysical Journal 451, 314-327 (1995).
• Spectral Evolution of Young Stellar Objects, (F. C. Adams, C. J. Lada, and F. H. Shu), The Astrophysical Journal 312, 788-806 (1987).
• The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity, (F. Adams and G. Laughlin), New York: The Free Press 256 pages, ISBN 0-684-85422-8 (1999).
• Origins of Existence: How Life Emerged in the Universe, (F. Adams), New York: The Free Press 256 pages, ISBN 0-7432-1262-2 (2002).

References

• Fred Adams, (1997). The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity, Free Press. ISBN 0-684-86576-9