Arne Rau  

Since February I am back in the high-energy group of the MPE Garching. My prime field of research are compact objects and their violent, transient, outbursts at all wavelengths. I am part of the Fermi/GBM and GROND teams in which we continue our investigations of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), both from their prompt emission as well as as probes of the Universe at redshifts as high a z=8.2.

My first postdoc was at the California Institute of Technology working with Prof. Shri Kulkarni on stellar-mass transients in the near and distant Universe. During this period we started to explore the optical transient sky beyond what was known from supernovae, classical novae, and microlensing surveys with new, systematic approaches. I lead a number of exploratory time domain studies in nearby Galaxies to search for faint and fast transienst (fall back SN, .Ia SN, macronovae) using telescopes at Las Campanas and La Silla (both in Chile). I was also furtunate to participate in the identification of the brightest Luminous Red Nova, an emerging class of cosmic transients, which perhaps signifies a star merging with the envelope of its companion. As the next step, the Palomar Transient Factory, a dedicated transient survey at the 48-inch Samuel Oschin telescope, was brought to life and is poised to revolutionize our understanding of the optical transient phase space. I also joined the LSST science working group for transient and variable sources.

For a short time prior moving to Caltech, I joined the EU Research Training Network - Gamma-Ray Bursts: An Enigma and a Tool, working with Dr. E. Pian in Trieste, Italy.

I obtained my PhD ("summa cum laude" aka "with honors") as a Student at the International Max-Planck Research School on Astrophysics at the MPE Garching and the Technical University Munich. For my thesis I performed a study of the population of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) ranging from the prompt emission at gamma-rays (with INTEGRAL) to the optical/near-IR properties of their afterglows and host galaxies (with ESO's VLTs) working with Dr. J. Greiner and Prof. G. Hasinger.

My responsibilities included, among others, software development for the anti-coincidence system of the spectrometer onboard INTEGRAL as well the analysis of the sample of GRBs detected with this instrument. Furthermore, I worked on optical and near-infrared properties of selected GRBs and their host galaxies and analyzed the data of a dedicated survey for optical orphan afterglows.

During my stay in Munich I was also invited to the annual Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting in 2005.

The last semesters of my University time were spend at Potsdam University. At the same time I joined the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, working with Dr. J. Greiner on X-ray spectroscopy of Galactic Microquasars. Based on RXTE data of GRS1915+105, I obtained my Diploma in Physics in 2002.

Immediately after finishing school, I started studying physics at the Humbold University Berlin. After three years, I decided to the switch to Potsdam University in order to be able to obtain a Diploma thesis in an astrophysics related topic (Something which was not possible at the HU at that time).

I was fortunate to be born and raised in the time of the political reformations in Europe. I grew up in the closed environment of the GDR in Berlin and experienced the systemic upheavel at an age which allowed me to understand the necessity and consequences of the changes.