Overview
James Cordes's research interests in astrophysics include neutron stars, pulsars, black holes, gravitational waves [GWs], fast radio bursts [FRBs], plasma media in the universe, including wave propagation through turbulence in the interstellar medium and other media, and astrobiology, including the search for extraterrestrial intelligence [SETI]. He conducts research and development in astrostatistics and machine-learning/AI methods to achieve astrophysical goals. He is active in the NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center, which uses radio pulsars as a Galactic scale gravitational wave detector for lightyear wavelength gravitational waves. NANOGrav and international partner groups announced the discovery of a stochastic background of gravitational waves, most likely produced by supermassive black hole binaries. In a large scale pulsar and transients survey he organized with the Arecibo telescope, the first repeating fast radio burst was discovered. He has made use of telescopes that cover the entire electromagnetic spectrum, with particular emphasis on the radio band. He was a long-time user of the Arecibo Observatory and spent ten years on the development of the Square Kilometer Array. Currently, he is a liaison between NANOGrav and the Deep Synoptic Array project lead by Caltech and part of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory system.
Publications
Recent Publications
A. Geiger, J. M. Cordes et al, "The NANOGrav 12.5 yr Data Set: Probing Interstellar Turbulence and Precision Pulsar Timing with PSR J1903+0327.” Ap. J. 986, (2025) https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025ApJ...986..191G
B. Brzycki, A. P. V. Siemion, I. de Pater, J. M. Cordes, et al. "On Detecting Interstellar Scintillation in Narrowband Radio SETI.” Ap. J. 952 (2023) https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...952...46B
J. M. Cordes, S. K. Ocker, S. Chatterjee. "Redshift Estimation and Constraints on Intergalactic and Interstellar Media from Dispersion and Scattering of Fast Radio Bursts.” Ap. J. 931 (2022) https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022ApJ...931...88C
I. Wasserman, J. M. Cordes, S. Chatterjee, G. Batra. "Nonaxisymmetric Precession of Magnetars and Fast Radio Burst.” Ap. J. 928 (2022)
S. K. Ocker, J. M. Cordes, S. Chatterjee. "Persistent plasma waves in interstellar space detected by Voyager 1.” Nature Astronomy, 5 (2021) https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021NatAs...5..761O
R. J. Jennings, J. M. Cordes, S. Chatterjee. "Detecting Gravitational Scattering of Interstellar Objects Using Pulsar Timing.” Ap. J. 889 (2020) https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020ApJ...889..145J
J. M. Cordes, M. A. McLaughlin et al. "Gravitational Waves, Extreme Astrophysics, and Fundamental Physics with Precision Pulsar Timing.” Bulletin American Astronomical Society, 51, (2019) https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019BAAS...51c.447C
J. M. Cordes & S. Chatterjee, "Fast Radio Bursts: An Extragalactic Enigma.” Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 57 (2019) https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019ARA&A..57..417C
In the news
- Cake-pan telescope searches the sky for fast radio bursts
- After 15 years, gravitational waves detected as cosmic ‘hum’
- Rapid-fire fast radio burst shows hot space between galaxies
- Team reveals first image of the black hole at our galaxy’s heart
- Cornell faculty contribute to Astro2020 decadal survey
- Detected: 1,652 radio bursts from 3 billion light-years away
- $2M in New Frontier Grants boost high-impact A&S research
- In the emptiness of space, Voyager 1 detects plasma ‘hum’
- NSF to decommission Cornell-designed Arecibo telescope