Shuo Zhang

Assistant Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy
Location: 4208 Biomed Phys Sci
Phone: 884-5577
Profile photo of  Shuo Zhang
Photo of: Shuo Zhang

Bio

Shuo Zhang focuses on observational high-energy astrophysics and particle astrophysics – including supermassive black holes, Galactic cosmic-ray origin, and large dataset analysis. As a member of the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration, Shuo has been leading X-ray observation campaigns of the Galactic center supermassive black hole and its vicinity. Harboring the closest supermassive black hole and abundant molecular gas, the Galactic center is an ideal laboratory to fulfill the goal of understanding accretion, feedback and particle acceleration of supermassive black holes. Most recently, Shuo initiated a particle astrophysics project to probe Galactic cosmic-rays and to reveal the nature of powerful cosmic particle accelerators the so-called “PeVatrons” that can accelerate protons or electrons into PeV energy range. PeVatrons could bare the answer to the century-old questions: Where do cosmic-rays come from? What are their particle acceleration mechanisms? Shuo Zhang's group plans to combine high-energy photon and neutrino signals from PeVatron candidates, aiming to answer the question whether cosmic-rays are from ordinary astrophysical sources or of more exotic origin. 

Before joining the physics and astronomy faculty at Michigan State, University, Prof. Shuo Zhang was on the physics faculty at Bard College from 2020-2023. She served as a NASA Hubble/Einstein Fellow at Boston University from 2019-2020 and a postdoc and Heising-Simons Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2016-2019. Shuo obtained her PhD in physics from Columbia University in 2016 and her Bachelor's degree from Tsinghua University in 2010.

#Education:
* Ph.D. in Physics, Columbia University, 2016
* B.S. in Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, 2010


Courses

  • PHY 221: Studio Phys for Life Science I

Selected Publications

  • Hard X-ray Morphological and Spectral Studies of the Galactic Center Molecular Cloud Sgr B2: Constraining Past Sgr A* Flaring Activity, Zhang, S., Hailey, C. J., Mori, K., et al., ApJ, 815, 132 (2015) View Publication
  • High-energy X-Ray Detection of G359.89-0.08 (Sgr A-E): Magnetic Flux Tube Emission Powered by Cosmic Rays?, Zhang, S., Hailey, C. J., Baganoff, F.~K., et al., ApJ, 784, 6 (2014) View Publication
  • New Constraints on Cosmic Particle Populations at the Galactic Center using X-ray observations of the Molecular cloud Sgr B2, Rogers, F., Zhang, S., Perez, K., Clavel, M., & Taylor, A., ApJ, 934(1), 19 (2022) View Publication
  • NuSTAR and Chandra Observation of the Galactic Center Non-thermal X-ray Filament G0.13-0.11: a Pulsar Wind Nebula Driven Magnetic Filament, Zhang, S., Zhu, Z., Li, H., Pasham, D., Li, Z., Clavel, M., Baganoff, F. K., Perez, K., Mori, K., Hailey, C. J., ApJ, 893, 3 (2020) View Publication
  • NuSTAR Detection of a Hard X-ray Source in the Supernova Remnant - Molecular Cloud Interaction Site of IC 443, Zhang, S., Tang, X., Zhang, X., et al., ApJ, 859, 141 (2018) View Publication
  • Sagittarius A* High Energy X-ray Flare Properties during NuSTAR Monitoring of the Galactic Center from 2012 to 2015, Zhang, S., Baganoff, F. K., Ponti, G., et al., ApJ, 843, 96 (2017) View Publication