Is there any astro-field that uses QM or GR frequently?

[physicist91]

Hi all!

Happy New year!

I will select my supervisor soon but i want to involve in the field that uses QM or GR frequently

I love physics and i want to apply physics to explain astrophysical phenomenon.

I know that Compact objects and Astrochemistry use such physics but i wonder to know more

Is there any other astro-field that uses Modern physics very frequently in doing research?

How about ISM? I read some textbook written by Draine, and i found that statistical mechanics is very important and there are some of QM but i don't know precisely.

How about radio astronomy??

Thanks all and happy new year!

 

[Matterwave]

Many fields of astronomy use QM or GR frequently. The use of modern physics is very prevalent in astrophysics.

Some examples:
1. All of cosmology is heavily GR dependent.
2. Astroparticle physics (e.g. simulating/detecting neutrinos from astrophysical sources) is heavily QM dependent.
3. Stellar interiors involves nuclear physics which is again heavily QM dependent.
4. Compact objects (e.g. Neutron stars, black holes, etc.) and compact object mergers (see A-LIGO) is heavily GR dependent.

Beyond these fields, there's also a whole series of astrophysics based experiments designed to test the limits of QM and GR. For example, cosmic rays sometimes come in with far more energy than we are able to generate with our current particle colliders - giving us insight into high energy QM. Another example would be Gravity probe B which tested the Lense-Thirring effect using the Earth's gravitational field.