A Hua He Inoa: Celebrating Hawaiʻi’s Wonders Dr. Devin Chu, Hilo Boy Studies with Nobel Prize Physicist!
“Devin is a remarkable astrophysicist. One of the favorite parts of my job is to watch students grow up and come into their own as full fledged scientists ready to form their own paths, and that’s what’s happened with Devin. He came in with a really clear passion about astronomy. He’s really smart, having gone to Dartmouth before coming to UCLA, learning the language of astronomy and the tools of astronomy, then really launching in his own direction.” - Dr. Andrea Ghez, 2020 Nobel Prize Winning Physicist.
Provided by Devin Chu
Born in the small town of Hilo to a family with lineal ties to the foundational beginnings of astronomy on Hawaiʻi mokupuni, it’s no wonder that Dr. Devin Chu grew up aspiring to be an astronomer. When asked about his first interest in astronomy, he said that “it really came at a young age. My mom would take me to the Hilo library and we borrowed a book on the solar system, and that really hooked me--seeing planets and worlds that could be explored. From then on I really started to be interested in astronomy.” This initial spark of curiosity propelled him as he continued to take advantage of different opportunities in school. “In the third grade, I made a timeline including plans to become an astronomer to study the universe around me. Growing up, I was really fortunate to experience a series of different programs around science and astronomy that gave me some hands-on experiences, and I remember always wanting to learn the research needed to be an astronomer.” And that’s exactly what this now 28 year old, Hilo High alumnus and recent UCLA Ph.D. astronomer did!
Provided by Devin Chu
Dr. Devin Chu defended his thesis while conducting his research under the tutelage of 2020 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, Dr. Andrea Ghez, who is also a UCLA Professor of Astrophysics and director of the UCLA Galactic Center Group. “When I first met Devin, I didn’t know he was from Hawaiʻi or that his parents were really interested and invested in astronomy in Hawaiʻi,” said Dr. Ghez. “But he was very enthusiastic about astronomy and what we were doing, so it was a no brainer for me to accept him into the group.” Fresh into graduate school, Dr. Chu joined and worked with Dr. Ghez and the UCLA Galactic Center Group. Over the course of their work, the group revealed many surprises about the environments surrounding supermassive balck holes; including the presence of extremely young stars where none was expected to be seen, and a lack of old stars where many were anticipated.
Building off these discoveries, Dr. Chu began to conduct observations that would provide clearer imaging and tracking of stars orbiting around the supermassive black hole in the center of our Milky Way galaxy. “This topic has become much more interesting when trying to understand what black holes are and how black holes interact with their environment,” says Dr. Ghez. “We think that black holes might drive binary stars to merge, and what Devin found is that there are no binary stars close to the black hole. So what he’s working on now is to understand what exactly happened to make these binary companion stars disappear.” Dr. Chu’s doctoral research focused on a star known as S0-2, which makes a complete orbit in three dimensions around the supermassive back hole at the center of the Milky Way. The full orbit takes 16 years, and the black hole’s mass is about four million times that of the sun. This research led by Dr. Ghez and the UCLA Galactic Center Group team is the most detailed study ever conducted into the supermassive black hole and Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Credit UCLA Galactic Center Group
Dr. Ghez, who dedicated 25 years to researching the black hole in the middle of our galaxy, played a key role in the development of the cutting-edge adaptive optics (AO) technology that has been critical to the observations leading to her Nobel Prize award. She continues to collaborate with the Keck Observatory’s team of engineers and scientists to advance AO to a next-generation level by way of the Keck All-sky Precision Adaptive optics project (KAPA), a project that Dr. Chu has recently been recruited to join as well. “He came into the group at a really exciting time when people were just beginning to theorize the relationship between these close pairs of stars near the black hole,” says Dr. Ghez. “This is what he’s moving on to in his post doc. So I’m really pleased to work with him and that he’s becoming much more integrated with Keck Observatory.” In a 2018 press release when KAPA was first announced, Hilton Lewis, director of Keck Observatory said, “we are excited by this opportunity to keep Keck Observatory at the forefront of high angular resolution science and to continue to advance the state-of-the-art in adaptive optics. Sharing our knowledge with the next generation of scientists and engineers is very important to us, for it is they who will continue the vital work of utilizing and continuing to develop the most scientifically-productive AO system in the world.”
Adaptive optics (AO) is a technique used to correct the distortion of astronomical images caused by the turbulence in the earth’s atmosphere. This is done using lasers to create an artificial star anywhere in the sky, fast sensors to measure the atmospheric blurring, and a deformable mirror to correct for it - all done about 1000 times per second. The goal is to study the finest detail possible by largely removing the blurring effect of the atmosphere. OSIRIS is a near-infrared integral field spectrograph tool designed for the Keck AO System. “I used OSIRIS a lot in my PhD program,” says Dr. Chu. “I’m working on improving the way that OSIRIS works and functions to essentially get better science and data that comes with the advanced developments through the KAPA program.” According to Dr. Chu, OSIRIS has been used for the last 15 years to track motions around the black hole in the middle of our galaxy. “But there is a point where we want to see things in more detail,” says Dr. Chu. “If we want to study binary stars, or even see if Einstein’s theory of relativity still holds around a supermassive black hole, these improvements to our technology will make us more sensitive to that.” Dr. Ghez shares similar excitement for this new opportunity stating that, “we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of what can be seen. These technologies that we are pushing forward, and these projects like the one that Devin is involved in, are going to help us get even clearer pictures of what’s happening at the center of the galaxy; which will hopefully enable us to sort out some of these mysteries by getting a much more complete view of what’s going on there.”
Along with being involved in the KAPA program, Dr. Chu plans to continue his ongoing outreach with local students in Hawaiʻi. “I really love giving back through outreach, especially because I’ve been really fortunate to have such a supportive community that encouraged me to become the scientist that I am today,” says Dr. Chu. “I really believe it’s my duty to give back to the next generation, and I’m constantly inspired by the students that I engage with. There is so much potential in our Hawaiʻi students and it’s just a matter of giving them the opportunity and resources; so if that’s me and my time, I’m happy to do that.”
E hoʻomau aku nō e Kauka Devin Chu ma kou ʻimi loa ʻana aku i nā mea hou o ka pō! We wish Dr. Devin Chu the best in his endeavors to seek out new knowledge from our deep space!