Kendrick Smith

Kendrick Smith profile picture
The Daniel Family James Peebles Chair in Theoretical Physics
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Areas of research:
If you are interested in pursuing a MSc degree, please apply to the Perimeter Scholars International (PSI) masters program. If you are interested in working with me as a PhD student, please send me an email at [email protected], If you are interested in working with me as a PhD student, please submit an application directly to my department at the University of Waterloo and indicate that you would like to be supervised by me. Perimeter Institute is committed to diversity within its community and I welcome applications from underrepresented groups.
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 new Canadian research telescope in several decades. 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.
  • Research Faculty, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 2012-2018
  • Spitzer Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University, 2012-2013
  • Spitzer Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University, 2009-2012
  • STFC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Cambridge, 2007-2009
  • PhD Student, University of Chicago, 2002-2007
  • Lancelot Berkeley Prize, American Astronomical Society, 2022
  • Discovery Grant, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), 2020-2024
  • Innovation Award, Governor General of Canada, 2020
  • New Horizons Prize in Physics, Breakthrough Prize Foundation, 2020
  • Giuseppe and Vanna Cocconi Prize, European Physical Society's High Energy Energy and Particle Physics Division, 2019
  • Fellow in the CIFAR program "Gravity & The Extreme Universe", Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 2019
  • Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, Breakthrough Prize Foundation, 2018
  • Gruber Cosmology Prize, Gruber Foundation, 2012
  • Rafiei-Ravandi, M., Smith, K. M., Michilli, D., Pleunis, Z., Bhardwaj, M., Dobbs, M., . . . Stenning, D. C. (2024). Statistical Association between the Candidate Repeating FRB 20200320A and a Galaxy Group. The Astrophysical Journal, 961(2), 177. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad0c59
  • Ibik, A. L., Drout, M. R., Gaensler, B. M., Scholz, P., Michilli, D., Bhardwaj, M., . . . Stairs, I. H. (2024). Proposed Host Galaxies of Repeating Fast Radio Burst Sources Detected by CHIME/FRB. The Astrophysical Journal, 961(1), 99. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad0893
  • Fonseca, E., Pleunis, Z., Breitman, D., Sand, K. R., Kharel, B., Boyle, P. J., . . . Smith, K. (2023). Modeling the Morphology of Fast Radio Bursts and Radio Pulsars with fitburst. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2311.05829
  • Hotinli, S. C., Pierpaoli, E., Ferraro, S., & Smith, K. (2023). Transverse velocities and matter gradient correlations: A new signal and a new challenge to moving-lens analyses. Physical Review D, 108(8), 083508. doi:10.1103/physrevd.108.083508
  • Sand, K. R., Breitman, D., Michilli, D., Kaspi, V. M., Chawla, P., Fonseca, E., . . . Stenning, D. C. (2023). A CHIME/FRB Study of Burst Rate and Morphological Evolution of the Periodically Repeating FRB 20180916B. The Astrophysical Journal, 956(1), 23. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acf221
  • Curtin, A. P., Tendulkar, S. P., Josephy, A., Chawla, P., Andersen, B., Kaspi, V. M., . . . Stairs, I. (2023). Limits on Fast Radio Burst–like Counterparts to Gamma-Ray Bursts Using CHIME/FRB. The Astrophysical Journal, 954(2), 154. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ace52f
  • Pearlman, A., Scholz, P., Bethapudi, S., Hessels, J., Kaspi, V., Kirsten, F., . . . Tendulkar, S. (n.d.). Multiwavelength Constraints on the Origin of a Nearby Repeating Fast Radio Burst Source in a Globular Cluster. doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3279219/v1
  • Rafiei-Ravandi, M., Smith, K. M., Michilli, D., Pleunis, Z., Bhardwaj, M., Dobbs, M., . . . Stenning, D. C. (2023). Statistical association between the candidate repeating FRB 20200320A and a galaxy group. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.09608
  • Cassanelli, T., Leung, C., Sanghavi, P., Mena-Parra, J., Cary, S., Mckinven, R., . . . Tendulkar, S. P. (2023). A fast radio burst localized at detection to a galactic disk using very long baseline interferometry. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2307.09502
  • Sand, K. R., Breitman, D., Michilli, D., Kaspi, V. M., Chawla, P., Fonseca, E., . . . Stenning, D. C. (2023). A CHIME/FRB study of burst rate and morphological evolution of the periodically repeating FRB 20180916B. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2307.05839
  • Lin, H. -H., Scholz, P., Ng, C., Pen, U. -L., Bhardwaj, M., Chawla, P., . . . Wulf, D. (2023). Do All Fast Radio Bursts Repeat? Constraints from CHIME/FRB Far Side-Lobe FRBs. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2307.05261
  • Lin, H. -H., Scholz, P., Ng, C., Pen, U. -L., Li, D. Z., Newburgh, L., . . . Wulf, D. (2023). Constraints on the Intergalactic and Local Dispersion Measure of Fast Radio Bursts with the CHIME/FRB far side-lobe events. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2307.05262
  • Mckinven, R., Gaensler, B. M., Michilli, D., Masui, K., Kaspi, V. M., Bhardwaj, M., . . . Tendulkar, S. (2023). A Large-scale Magneto-ionic Fluctuation in the Local Environment of Periodic Fast Radio Burst Source FRB 20180916B. The Astrophysical Journal, 950(1), 12. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acc65f
  • Giri, U., Münchmeyer, M., & Smith, K. M. (2023). Constraining $f_{NL}$ using the Large-Scale Modulation of Small-Scale Statistics. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2305.03070
  • Ibik, A. L., Drout, M. R., Gaensler, B. M., Scholz, P., Michilli, D., Bhardwaj, M., . . . Stairs, I. H. (2023). Proposed host galaxies of repeating fast radio burst sources detected by CHIME/FRB. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2304.02638
  • Cook, A. M., Bhardwaj, M., Gaensler, B. M., Scholz, P., Eadie, G. M., Hill, A. S., . . . Stenning, D. C. (2023). An FRB Sent Me a DM: Constraining the Electron Column of the Milky Way Halo with Fast Radio Burst Dispersion Measures from CHIME/FRB. The Astrophysical Journal, 946(2), 58. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acbbd0
  • Merryfield, M., Tendulkar, S. P., Shin, K., Andersen, B., Josephy, A., Good, D., . . . Stairs, I. H. (2023). An Injection System for the CHIME/FRB Experiment. The Astronomical Journal, 165(4), 152. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ac9ab5
  • Collaboration, T. C. F., Andersen, B. C., Bandura, K., Bhardwaj, M., Boyle, P. J., Brar, C., . . . Zwaniga, A. (2023). CHIME/FRB Discovery of 25 Repeating Fast Radio Burst Sources. The Astrophysical Journal, 947(2), 83. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acc6c1
  • Rafiei-Ravandi, M., & Smith, K. M. (2023). Mitigating Radio Frequency Interference in CHIME/FRB Real-time Intensity Data. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 265(2), 62. doi:10.3847/1538-4365/acc252
  • Giri, U., Münchmeyer, M., & Smith, K. M. (2023). Robust neural network-enhanced estimation of local primordial non-Gaussianity. Physical Review D, 107(6), l061301. doi:10.1103/physrevd.107.l061301
  • Shin, K., Masui, K. W., Bhardwaj, M., Cassanelli, T., Chawla, P., Dobbs, M., . . . Tendulkar, S. P. (2023). Inferring the Energy and Distance Distributions of Fast Radio Bursts Using the First CHIME/FRB Catalog. The Astrophysical Journal, 944(1), 105. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acaf06
  • Andersen, B. C., Fonseca, E., McKee, J. W., Meyers, B. W., Luo, J., Tan, C. M., . . . Tendulkar, S. P. (2023). CHIME Discovery of a Binary Pulsar with a Massive Nondegenerate Companion. The Astrophysical Journal, 943(1), 57. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aca485
  • Giri, U., & Smith, K. M. (2022). Exploring KSZ velocity reconstruction with N-body simulations and the halo model. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2022(09), 028. doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2022/09/028
  • Leung, C., Kader, Z., Masui, K. W., Dobbs, M., Michilli, D., Mena-Parra, J., . . . Vanderlinde, K. (2022). Constraining primordial black holes using fast radio burst gravitational-lens interferometry with CHIME/FRB. Physical Review D, 106(4), 043017. doi:10.1103/physrevd.106.043017
  • Kader, Z., Leung, C., Dobbs, M., Masui, K. W., Michilli, D., Mena-Parra, J., . . . Wulf, D. (2022). High-time resolution search for compact objects using fast radio burst gravitational lens interferometry with CHIME/FRB. Physical Review D, 106(4), 043016. doi:10.1103/physrevd.106.043016
  • Andersen, B. C., Bandura, K., Bhardwaj, M., Boyle, P. J., Brar, C., Breitman, D., . . . Zwaniga, A. (2022). Sub-second periodicity in a fast radio burst. Nature, 607(7918), 256-259. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04841-8
  • Sand, K. R., Faber, J. T., Gajjar, V., Michilli, D., Andersen, B. C., Joshi, B. C., . . . Tendulkar, S. P. (2022). Multiband Detection of Repeating FRB 20180916B. The Astrophysical Journal, 932(2), 98. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac6cee
  • Collaboration, T. L. I. G. O. S., Collaboration, T. V., Collaboration, T. K. A. G. R. A., Collaboration, T. C. H. I. M. E. F. R. B., Abbott, R., Abbott, T. D., . . . Zwaniga, A. V. (2022). Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Fast Radio Bursts Detected by CHIME/FRB During the LIGO--Virgo Observing Run O3a. arxiv:2203.12038v1
  • Abazajian, K., Abdulghafour, A., Addison, G. E., Adshead, P., Ahmed, Z., Ajello, M., . . . Zonca, A. (2022). Snowmass 2021 CMB-S4 White Paper. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2203.08024
  • Collaboration, T. C. -H., :., Aiola, S., Akrami, Y., Basu, K., Boylan-Kolchin, M., . . . Wu, K. (2022). Snowmass2021 CMB-HD White Paper. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2203.05728
  • Chawla, P., Kaspi, V. M., Ransom, S. M., Bhardwaj, M., Boyle, P. J., Breitman, D., . . . Tendulkar, S. P. (2022). Modeling Fast Radio Burst Dispersion and Scattering Properties in the First CHIME/FRB Catalog. The Astrophysical Journal, 927(1), 35. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac49e1
  • Nimmo, K., Hessels, J. W. T., Kirsten, F., Keimpema, A., Cordes, J. M., Snelders, M. P., . . . Yuan, J. P. (2022). Burst timescales and luminosities as links between young pulsars and fast radio bursts. Nature Astronomy, 6(3), 393-401. doi:10.1038/s41550-021-01569-9
  • Kirsten, F., Marcote, B., Nimmo, K., Hessels, J. W. T., Bhardwaj, M., Tendulkar, S. P., . . . Vlemmings, W. (2022). A repeating fast radio burst source in a globular cluster. Nature, 602(7898), 585-589. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04354-w
  • Cassanelli, T., Leung, C., Rahman, M., Vanderlinde, K., Mena-Parra, J., Cary, S., . . . Tendulkar, S. P. (2022). Localizing FRBs through VLBI with the Algonquin Radio Observatory 10 m Telescope. The Astronomical Journal, 163(2), 65. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ac3d2f
  • Crichton, D., Aich, M., Amara, A., Bandura, K., Bassett, B. A., Bengaly, C., . . . Zhang, Z. (2022). Hydrogen Intensity and Real-Time Analysis Experiment: 256-element array status and overview. Journal of Astronomical Telescopes Instruments and Systems, 8(1), 011019. doi:10.1117/1.jatis.8.1.011019
  • Collaboration, T. C. F., Amiri, M., Andersen, B. C., Bandura, K., Berger, S., Bhardwaj, M., . . . Zwaniga, A. V. (2021). The First CHIME/FRB Fast Radio Burst Catalog. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 257(2), 59. doi:10.3847/1538-4365/ac33ab
  • Josephy, A., Chawla, P., Curtin, A. P., Kaspi, V. M., Bhardwaj, M., Boyle, P. J., . . . Zwaniga, A. V. (2021). No Evidence for Galactic Latitude Dependence of the Fast Radio Burst Sky Distribution. The Astrophysical Journal, 923(1), 2. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac33ad
  • Pleunis, Z., Good, D. C., Kaspi, V. M., Mckinven, R., Ransom, S. M., Scholz, P., . . . Tendulkar, S. P. (2021). Fast Radio Burst Morphology in the First CHIME/FRB Catalog. The Astrophysical Journal, 923(1), 1. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac33ac
  • Rafiei-Ravandi, M., Smith, K. M., Li, D., Masui, K. W., Josephy, A., Dobbs, M., . . . Zwaniga, A. (2021). CHIME/FRB Catalog 1 Results: Statistical Cross-correlations with Large-scale Structure. The Astrophysical Journal, 922(1), 42. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac1dab
  • Good, D. C., Andersen, B. C., Chawla, P., Crowter, K., Dong, F. Q., Fonseca, E., . . . Tendulkar, S. P. (2021). First Discovery of New Pulsars and RRATs with CHIME/FRB. The Astrophysical Journal, 922(1), 43. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac1da6
  • Hotinli, S. C., Smith, K. M., Madhavacheril, M. S., & Kamionkowski, M. (2021). Cosmology with the moving lens effect. Physical Review D, 104(8), 083529. doi:10.1103/physrevd.104.083529
  • Bhardwaj, M., Kirichenko, A. Y., Michilli, D., Mayya, Y. D., Kaspi, V. M., Gaensler, B. M., . . . Stairs, I. H. (2021). A Local Universe Host for the Repeating Fast Radio Burst FRB 20181030A. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 919(2), l24. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac223b
  • Collaboration, T. C. F., Andersen, B. C., Bandura, K., Bhardwaj, M., Boyle, P. J., Brar, C., . . . Zwaniga, A. (2021). Sub-second periodicity in a fast radio burst. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2107.08463
  • Nimmo, K., Hessels, J. W. T., Kirsten, F., Keimpema, A., Cordes, J. M., Snelders, M. P., . . . Yuan, J. (2021). Burst timescales and luminosities link young pulsars and fast radio bursts. arxiv:2105.11446v2
  • Madhavacheril, M. S., Smith, K. M., Sherwin, B. D., & Naess, S. (2021). CMB lensing power spectrum estimation without instrument noise bias. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2021(05), 028. doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2021/05/028
  • Pleunis, Z., Michilli, D., Bassa, C. G., Hessels, J. W. T., Naidu, A., Andersen, B. C., . . . Tendulkar, S. P. (2021). LOFAR Detection of 110–188 MHz Emission and Frequency-dependent Activity from FRB 20180916B. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 911(1), l3. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abec72
  • Bhardwaj, M., Gaensler, B. M., Kaspi, V. M., Landecker, T. L., Mckinven, R., Michilli, D., . . . Zwaniga, A. V. (2021). A Nearby Repeating Fast Radio Burst in the Direction of M81. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 910(2), l18. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abeaa6
  • Schaan, E., Ferraro, S., Amodeo, S., Battaglia, N., Aiola, S., Austermann, J. E., . . . Xu, Z. (2021). Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Combined kinematic and thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich measurements from BOSS CMASS and LOWZ halos. Physical Review D, 103(6), 063513. doi:10.1103/physrevd.103.063513
  • Cosmology Lecture, Cosmology 2023/24, 2024/03/07, PIRSA:24030064
  • Cosmology Lecture, Cosmology 2023/24, 2024/03/06, PIRSA:24030074
  • Cosmology Lecture, Cosmology 2023/24, 2024/03/05, PIRSA:24030063
  • Cosmology Lecture, Cosmology 2023/24, 2024/03/04, PIRSA:24030071
  • Cosmology Lecture, Cosmology 2023/24, 2024/02/29, PIRSA:24020036
  • Cosmology Lecture, Cosmology 2023/24, 2024/02/28, PIRSA:24020037
  • Cosmology Lecture, Cosmology 2023/24, 2024/02/27, PIRSA:24020033
  • Searching for FRBs with CHIME and CHORD, Australia Telescope National Facility, Parkes, Australia, 2023/06/14
  • FRB Science Results from CHIME, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2023/01/10
  • Cosmology, Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/05/05, PIRSA:22050017
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/05/03, PIRSA:22050013
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/05/02, PIRSA:22050012
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/04/25, PIRSA:22040085
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/04/22, PIRSA:22040084
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/04/21, PIRSA:22040086
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/04/19, PIRSA:22040083
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/04/18, PIRSA:22040082
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/04/13, PIRSA:22040079
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/04/12, PIRSA:22040080
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/04/08, PIRSA:22040078
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/04/05, PIRSA:22040077
  • Cosmology (2021/2022), Cosmology (2021/2022), 2022/04/04, PIRSA:22040076
  • Mapping cosmological electrons with the CMB and FRBs, Invited conference talk, Princeton, 2022/01/01
  • FRB science results from CHIME, Brookhaven National Laboratory (remote), 2022/01/01
  • Cosmology from the kSZ effect in the CMB, Invited seminar, University of Cambridge (remote), 2022/01/01
  • FRB science results from CHIME, Colloquium, 2021/11/03, PIRSA:21110007