Kendrick Smith

Research Interests

I am a "data-oriented" cosmologist: my work is a mixture of theoretical physics,
phenomenology, computational physics, statistics, and data analysis. I have been
a member of several large experiments, including the WMAP and Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) satellites. Most recently, I have joined CHIME, a new experiment in British Columbia which aims to measure the radio sky to orders of magnitude better sensitivity than previous all-sky surveys, with a wide variety of applications. It is the first large Canadian research telescope in more than 50 years.

My best-known work is on CMB data analysis and phenomenology, including a classification of observable signals from self-interactions of the inflaton, and the first detection of gravitational lensing in the CMB. Recently, I have been interested in new data analysis techniques for large scale structure and radio astronomy.

Positions Held

• 2012-2013: Spitzer Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University and Faculty, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (joint affiliation)
• 2009-2012: Spitzer Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University
• 2007-2009: STFC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Cambridge
• 2002-2007: PhD student, University of Chicago

Awards

• 2012: I was co-awarded (with the rest of the WMAP Science Team) the Gruber Cosmology Prize, an international prize given once per year to an individual or team ``whose groundbreaking work provides new models that inspire and enable fundamental shifts in knowledge and culture''.
• 2009: Spitzer Postdoctoral Fellowship at Princeton University, awarded once per year to ``a top theoretical postdoctoral astronomer''.
• 2007: STFC (UK Science and Technology Facilities Council) Postdoctoral Fellowship, awarded to twelve recent PhDs (across all scientific fields) to pursue postdoctoral research in the UK.
• 2006: Bloomenthal Fellowship, awarded once per year to ``the best graduate student in theoretical physics with advanced residency status'' at the University of Chicago.
• 2002: McCormick Doctoral Fellowship, awarded to ``the highest rated applicants to the Ph.D. program of the Department of Physics'' at the University of Chicago.

Recent Publications

• E. Schaan, S. Ferraro, M. Vargas-Magana, K. M. Smith et al, ``Evidence for the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect with ACTPol and velocity reconstruction from BOSS'', PRD (2016) 93, 082002.
• L. Boyle, J. Y. Khoo, K. M. Smith, ``Symmetric Satellite Swarms and Choreographic Crystals'', PRL (2016) 116, 015503 (``Editors' Suggestion'').
• S. Ferraro, K. M. Smith, ``Using Large Scale Structure to Test Multifield Inflation'', PRD (2015) 91, 043506.
• L. Boyle, K. M. Smith, C. Dvorkin, N. Turok, ``On testing and extending the inflationary consistency relation for tensor modes'', PRD (2015) 92, 043504.
• S. R. Behbahani, M. Mirbabayi, L. Senatore, K. M. Smith, ``New natural shapes of non-Gaussianity from high-derivative interactions and their optimal limits from WMAP 9-year data'', JCAP (2014) 11 035.
• K. M. Smith, C. Dvorkin, L. Boyle, N. Turok, M. Halpern, G. Hinshaw, B. Gold, ``On quantifying and resolving the BICEP2/Planck tension over gravitational waves'', PRL (2014) 113, 031301 (``Editors' Suggestion'').
• A. Broderick, C. Pfrommer, E. Puchwein, P. Chang, K. M. Smith, ``Lower Limits upon the Anisotropy of the Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Background implied by the 2FGL and 1FHL Catalogs'', ApJ (2014) 796, 12.
• K. M. Smith and S. Ferraro, ``Detecting patchy reionization in the CMB'', arXiv: 1607.01769 [astro-ph]
• P. Berger et al, ``Holographic Beam Mapping of the CHIME Pathfinder Array'', arXiv: 1607.01473 [astro-ph]
• N. Denman et al, ``A GPU-based Correlator X-engine Implemented on the CHIME Pathfinder'', arXiv: 1503.06202 [astro-ph].
• K. M. Smith, L. Senatore, M. Zaldarriaga, ``Optimal analysis of the CMB trispectrum'', arXiv: 1502.00635 [astro-ph].
• Planck collaboration, ``Planck 2015 results. I. Overview of products and scientific results'', arXiv: 1502.01582 [astro-ph].
• Planck collaboration, ``Planck 2015 results. XVII. Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity'', arXiv: 1502.01592 [astro-ph].
• J. C. Hill, B. D. Sherwin, K. M. Smith et al, ``The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich One-Point PDF'', arXiv: 1411.8004 [astro-ph]
• M. Alvarez et al, ``Testing Inflation with Large Scale Structure: Connecting Hopes with Reality'', Proceedings from workshop held at University of Toronto, October 2014.
• K. N. Abazajian et al, "Inflation Physics from the Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure", Report from the ``Dark Energy and CMB'' working group for the American Physical Society's Division of Particles and Fields long-term planning exercise ("Snowmass").
• K. N. Abazajian et al, "Neutrino Physics from the Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure", Report from the ``Dark Energy and CMB'' working group for the American Physical Society's Division of Particles and Fields long-term planning exercise ("Snowmass").

Seminars

• "CHIME: the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment", invited conference talk, Carnegie-Mellon
• "Detecting patchy reionization in the CMB", invited conference talk, Stony Brook.
• "CHIME: the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment", invited seminar, University of Washington
• "CMB lensing overview'', invited conference talk, Berkeley
• "CHIME: the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment'', invited seminar, IAS Princeton.
• "CHIME: forecasts and status update", invited seminar, Munich.
• "CHIME: forecasts and status update'', invited conference talk, IAS Princeton.
• "CHIME: forecasts and status update", invited conference talk, Barcelona
• "CHIME: forecasts and status update'', invited conference talk, Brookhaven (via skype)
• "Planck constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity and future prospects", invited colloquium, University of Chicago
• "Planck constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity and future prospects", invited seminar, Johns Hopkins
• "Planck constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity and future prospects", invited seminar, Ohio State
• "Planck constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity and future prospects", invited conference talk, Aspen.
• "Planck constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity and future prospects", invited seminar, Stony Brook
• "Planck constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity and future prospects", invited seminar, Penn State
• "Planck constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity and future prospects", invited seminar, CMU.
• "Planck constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity and future prospects", invited seminar, Princeton.
• "Planck constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity and future prospects", invited seminar, NYU.
• "Planck constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity and future prospects", invited conference talk, University of Minnesota.
• "Primordial non-Gaussianity in the CMB and large-scale structure", invited colloquium, McGill.
• "Primordial non-Gaussianity in the CMB and large-scale structure", invited seminar, University of Waterloo.
• "Primordial non-Gaussianity in the CMB and large-scale structure", invited seminar, UBC.
• "Non-Gaussianity post Planck and BICEP2", invited conference talk, Brookhaven.
• "Quantum mechanical simulations of inflation", invited conference talk, Princeton.
• "Quantum mechanical simulations of inflation", invited seminar, University of Toronto.
• "Primordial non-Gaussianity in the CMB and large-scale structure", invited conference talk, Stanford.