My main interest is clusters of galaxies -- in particular, physics of the intracluster medium, including its thermal component, magnetic fields and cosmic ray population. Cluster mergers, shock fronts, cold fronts (our Chandra discovery), cluster mass measurements using the hydrostatic equilibrium method are among the topics of interest. I'm working mostly with the X-ray data from Chandra and XMM; in the past, I also worked with ASCA, ROSAT and Granat. I collaborate with radio people studying cluster halos; since SZ observations promise soon to become very useful for cluster physics, I'm trying to expand into that spectral region, too.

My other area of interest is cosmology with clusters -- e.g., the properties of dark matter. My collaborators here, besides theorists, are observers of gravitational lensing, who use HST and large ground-based telescopes (where I occasionally go to observe myself).

Working on the Chandra ACIS background calibration also got me interested in applying this calibration to studies of the Cosmic X-ray background.

Bibliography

Curriculum vitae:

• 1993: PhD, Moscow institute of physics and technology / Space research institute, Russian Acad. Sci.

  Thesis: "Hot gas in clusters of galaxies and Cosmic microwave background. X-ray observations of gas in Perseus cluster and in the center of our Galaxy" (advisor prof. R. Sunyaev)

• 1993-1995: postdoc at ISAS, Japan

• 1995-1996: postdoc at University of Virginia

• 1996-1997: postdoc at CfA

• 1997-now: astrophysicist at CfA, member of the Chandra X-ray Center

• Awards:

  1995: Main prize of the Russian Astronomical Society (with R. Sunyaev and M. Pavlinsky) for Granat study of the diffuse X-ray emission from the Galactic Center.

  2008: Rossi prize of the American Astronomical Society (shared with A. Vikhlinin, S. Allen and P. Henry) for Chandra discovery of cold fronts in galaxy clusters.