Stephen M. Merkowitz

Stephen.M.Merkowitz@nasa.gov
Tel: 301-286-9412
FAX: 301-286-1684

PRESENT POSITION:

Astrophysicist at the Laboratory of High Energy Astrophysics at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Integrated Modeling Lead and member of the Integrated System Team for the LISA gravitational wave mission.

RESEARCH AREAS:

Gravitational Wave Detection

EDUCATION:

1995

Ph.D.

Physics, Louisiana State University

1994

M.S.

Physics, Louisiana State University

1989

B.A.

Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder

PREVIOUS POSITIONS:

1998-2000, Research Associate, Nuclear Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

1996-1998, National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) Postdoctoral Fellow, INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Italy

1996, Visiting Researcher, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands

1995-1996, Postdoctoral Researcher, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

1991-1995, Research Assistant, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

1989-1991, Teaching Assistant, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

HONORS AND AWARDS:

2004, Goddard Space Flight Center Special Act Award

2003, Goddard Space Flight Center Special Act Award

2001, Goddard Space Flight Center Special Act Award

1996-1998, National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) Postdoctoral Fellowship

NASA PROJECTS:

Integrated Modeling Lead, Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), 2001-Present

CO-INVESTIGATOR:

Big Bang Observatory (BBO)

INVITED TALKS:

2003

"Structural, Thermal, Optical, and Gravitational Modeling for LISA," Fifth Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves, Tirrenia, Italy July 8



2002

"The LISA Integrated Model", Fourth International LISA Symposium, Penn State, July 23



2001

"Why is it so hard to measure the strength of gravity?", National Capital Section of the Optical Society of America Dinner, March 20



2001

"Why is it so hard to measure the strength of gravity?", CAS Research Seminar, Johns Hopkins University January 30

REFEREED PUBLICATIONS:

Structural, thermal, optical and gravitational modelling for LISA, by Stephen M Merkowitz, Shelly Conkey, William B Haile, William R KellyIII, Hume Peabody and Philip J Dumont, Class. Quant. Grav. 21, S603 (2004).



Pointing acquisition and performance for the laser interferometry space antenna mission, by T. T. Hyde, P. G. Maghami and S. M. Merkowitz, Class. Quant. Grav. 21, S635 (2004).



The LISA integrated model, by Stephen M. Merkowitz, Class. Quant. Grav. 20, S255 (2003).

A µNewton thrust-stand for LISA, by S. M. Merkowitz, P. G. Maghami, A. Sharma, W. D. Willis and C. M. Zakrzwski, Class. Quant. Grav. 19, 1745 (2002).

Results on the Strong Equivalence Principle, Dark Matter, and New Forces, by B. Heckel, E. Adelberger, S. Baessler, J. Gundlach, M. Harris, C.Hoyle, S. Merkowitz, U. Schmidt, A. Sharp, G. Smith and E. Swanson, Advances in Space Research 25, 1225 (2000).

Measurement of Newton's Constant Using a Torsion Balance with Angular Acceleration Feedback, by Jens H. Gundlach and Stephen M. Merkowitz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2869 (2000).

Search for coincident excitation of the widely spaced resonant gravitational wave detectors EXPLORER, NAUTILUS and NIOBE, by P. Astone, M. Bassan, D. G. Blair, P. Bonifazi, P. Carelli, E. Coccia, C. Cosmelli, V. Fafone, L. Febo, S. Frasca, I. S. Heng, E. N. Ivanov, A. Marini, E. Mauceli, S. M. Merkowitz, Y. Minenko, I. Modena, G. Modestino, A. Moleti, G. V. Pallottino, M. A. Papa, G. Pizzella, F. Ronga, R. Terenzi and others, Astropart. Phys. 10, 83 (1999).

Errors on the inverse problem solution for a noisy spherical gravitational wave antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz, J. Alberto Lobo and M. Angeles Serrano, Class. Quant. Grav. 16, 3035 (1999).

Underground spherical gravitational wave detector, by P. Astone, M. Bassan, P. Bonifazi, P. Carelli, E. Coccia, V. Fafone, A. Marini, G. Mazzitelli, S. M. Merkowitz, Y. Minenkov, I. Modena, G. Modestino, A. Moleti, G. V. Pallottino, M. A. Papa, G. Pizzella, F. Ronga, M. Spinetti, R. Terenzi, M. Visco and L. Votano, Nucl. Phys. B Proc. Suppl. 70, 461 (1999).

Search for gravitational radiation with the Allegro and Explorer detectors, by P. Astone, M. Bassan, P. Bonifazi, P. Carelli, E. Coccia, C. Cosmelli, V. Fafone, S. Frasca, K. Geng, W. O. Hamilton, W. W. Johnson, E. Mauceli, M. P. McHugh, S. Merkowitz, I. Modena, G. Modestino, A. Morse, G. V. Pallottino, M. A. Papa, G. Pizzella, N. Solomonson, R. Terenzi, M. Visco and N. Zhu, Phys. Rev. D 59, 122001 (1999).

Final isolation stage for a spherical gravitational wave antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz, Eugenio Coccia, Viviana Fafone, Guido Raffone, Maria Schipilliti and Massimo Visco, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70, 1553 (1999).

Deconvolving the information from an imperfect spherical gravitational wave antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz and Warren W. Johnson, Europhys. Lett. 41, 355 (1998).

Solution to the inverse problem for a noisy spherical gravitational wave antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz, Phys. Rev. D 58, 062002 (1998).

Techniques for detecting gravitational waves with a spherical antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz and Warren W. Johnson, Phys. Rev. D 56, 7513 (1997).

Search for gravitational radiation from Supernova 1993J, by E. Mauceli, Z. K. Geng, W. O. Hamilton, W. W. Johnson, S. Merkowitz, A. Morse, N. Solomonson, P. Astone, M. Bassan, P. Bonifazi, P. Carelli, E. Coccia, C. Cosmelli, V. Fafone, S. Frasca, I. Modena, P. Modestino, G. V. Pallottino, G. Pizzella, P. Rapagnani, F. Ricci, R. Terenzi and M. Visco, Phys. Rev. D 56, 6081 (1997).

The Allegro gravitational wave detector: Data acquisition and analysis, by E. Mauceli, Z. K. Geng, W. O. Hamilton, W. W. Johnson, S. Merkowitz, A. Morse, B. Price and N. Solomonson, Phys. Rev. D 54, 1264 (1996).

First tests of a Truncated Icosahedral Gravitational Wave Antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz and Warren W. Johnson, Phys. Rev. D 53, 5377 (1996).

Spherical Gravitational Wave Antennas and the Truncated Icosahedral Arrangement, by Stephen M. Merkowitz and Warren W. Johnson, Phys. Rev. D 51, 2546 (1995).

Truncated Icosahedral Gravitational Wave Antenna, by Warren W. Johnson and Stephen M. Merkowitz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2367 (1993).

OTHER SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS:

Development of a Thrust Stand to Meet LISA Mission Requirements, by William D. Willis III, Charles M. Zakrzwski and Stephen M. Merkowitz, in 38th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, (AIAA, , 2002).

Recent progress towards a truncated icosahedral gravitational wave antenna, by Stephen M. Merkowitz, in Second Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Wave Experiments, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1999).

Errors on the inverse problem solution in a noisy spherical GW antenna, by A. Lobo and S. M. Merkowitz, in Third Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Wave Experiments, (American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings, Melville, New York, 1999).

Searches for new long-range forces: equivalence principle violation and plank-scale physics, by E. G. Adelberger, S. Baessler, J. Gundlach, B. R. Heckel, C. D. Hoyle, S. M. Merkowitz, G. L. Smith and H. E. Swanson, in Physics Beyond the Standard Model, Proceedings of the Fifth International WEIN Symposium, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1999).

Operation of the gravitational wave detector NAUTILUS, by P. Astone, S. Frasca, G. V. Pallottino, M. Bassan, E. Coccia, Y. Minenkov, I. Modena, A. Moleti, M. A. Papa, P. Bonifazi, R. Terenzi, M. Visco, P. Carelli, V. Fafone, A. Marini, S. M. Merkowitz, G. Modestino, F. Ronga, L. Votano and G. Pizzella, in Proceedings of the 8th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1999).

SFERA: Research and development for a spherical gravitational wave detector, by P. Astone, G. V. Pallottino, M. Bassan, E. Coccia, Y. Minenkov, I. Modena, A. Moleti, M. A. Papa, G. Pizzella, P. Bonifazi, R. Terenzi, M. Visco, P. Carelli, V. Fafone, A. Marini, S. M. Merkowitz, G. Modestino, F. Ronga, M. Spinetti and L. Votano, in Second Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Wave Experiments, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1999).

Search for gravitational radiation with the Allegro and Explorer detectors, by P. Astone, M. Bassan, P. Bonifazi, P. Carelli, E. Coccia, C. Cosmelli, V. Fafone, S. Frasca, K. Geng, W. O. Hamilton, W. W. Johnson, E. Mauceli, M. P. McHugh, S. Merkowitz, Y. Minenkov, I. Modena, G. Modestino, A. Moleti, A. Morse, G. V. Pallottino, M. A. Papa, G. Pizzella, N. Solomonson, R. Terenzi, M. Visco, in Third Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Wave Experiments, (American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings, Melville, New York, 1999).

Tests on a prototype spherical detector, by P. Astone, M. Bassan, P. Bonifazi, P. Carelli, E. Coccia, S. D'Antonio, V. Fafone, G. Frossati, A. Marini, E. Mauceli, S. Merkowitz, Y. Minenkov, I. Modena, A. Moleti, G. Modestino, G.V. Pallottino, M. Papa, G. Pizzella, G. Raffone, F. Ronga, M. Schipilliti, R. Terenzi, M. Visco and L. Votano, in Third Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Wave Experiments, (American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings, Melville, New York, 1999).

Mechanical isolation of gravitational wave antennae: Present and future, by E. Coccia, V. Fafone, S. Merkowitz, G. Raffone, M. Schipilliti and M. Visco, in 13th Italian National Conference On General Relativity , (, , 1998).

Fundamental physics with a spherical gravitational wave detector, by E. Coccia and S. M. Merkowitz, in Second International Conference on Phenomenology of Unification from Present to Future, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1998).

Search for correlation of gamma ray bursts with gravitational wave data, by P. Astone, M. Bassan, P. Bonifazi, P. Carelli, E. Coccia, V. Fafone, L. Febo, S. Frasca, A. Marini, S. M. Merkowitz, Y. Minenkov, I. Modena, G. Modestino, A. Moleti, G. V. Pallottino, M. A. Papa, G. Pizzella, F. Ronga, R. Terenzi, M. Visco and L. Votano, in Proceedings for the second workshop on Gravitational Wave Data Analysis, (, , 1998).

Simulation of a spherical resonant-mass gravitational wave antenna, by C. Frajuca, N. S. Magalhães, O. D. Aguiar, N. D. Solomonson, W. W. Johnson, S. M. Merkowitz and W. O. Hamilton, in Omnidirectional gravitational radiation observatory: Proceedings of the first international workshop, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1997).

Improvement of an inductive tripod transducer electrical Q, by C. Frajuca, N. S. Magalhães, O. D. Aguiar, K. Geng, W. W. Johnson, S. M. Merkowitz and W. O. Hamilton, in Omnidirectional gravitational radiation observatory: Proceedings of the first international workshop, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1997).

Operations and developments concerning Allegro - the resonant mass antenna at Louisiana State University, by N. Solomonson, Z. K. Geng, W. O. Hamilton, W. W. Johnson, E. Mauceli, S. Merkowitz, A. Morse and B. Price, in Proceedings of the 7th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1997).

Real life TIGA measurements: results from the LSU prototype, by Stephen M. Merkowitz and Warren W. Johnson, in Omnidirectional gravitational radiation observatory: Proceedings of the first international workshop, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1997).

Performance of the ALLEGRO detector – and what our experience tells us about spherical detectors, by William O. Hamilton, Ziniu K. Geng, Warren W. Johnson, Evan Mauceli, Stephen M. Merkowitz, Andrew Morse and Norbert Solomonson, in Omnidirectional gravitational radiation observatory: Proceedings of the first international workshop, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1997).

Operation of the Allegro Detector at LSU, by Z. K. Geng, W. O. Hamilton, W. W. Johnson, E. Mauceli, S. Merkowitz, A. Morse and N. Solomonson, in First Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Wave Experiments, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1995).

Result of a preliminary data analysis in coincidence between the LSU and Rome gravitational wave antennas, by P. Astone, M. Bassan, P. Bonifazi, M. G. Castellano, G. Cavallari, E. Coccia, C. Cosmelli, V. Fafone, S. Frasca, K. Geng, W. O. Hamilton, W. W. Johnson, E. Majorana, E. Mauceli, S. Merkowitz, I. Modena, A. Morse, G. V. Pallottino, G. Pizzella, P. Rapagnani, F. Ricci, N. Solomonson, M. Visco and N. Zhu, in 10th Italian Conference on General Relativity & Gravitational Physics, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1993).

The 1991 LSU gravitational radiation detector: modifications, performance, and prospects, by N. Solomonson, O. Aguiar, Z. Geng, W. O. Hamilton, W. W. Johnson, S. Merkowitz, B. Price, B. Xu and N. Zhu, in Proceedings of the 6th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity, (World Scientific, Singapore, 1992).