Dr. Bill Hirsch

Dr. Bill HirschMarquette University

Wehr Physics Building, 327

MilwaukeeWI53201United States of America(414) 288-7111william.hirsch@marquette.edu

Teaching Professor

Physics

Bill Hirsch received his BS from the Pennsylvania State University in Astrophysics and performed computational nuclear physics research when earning his MS at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. from Wake Forest University for theoretical research concerning general relativity’s interplay with quantum field theory. This research was an exploration of an approximation to a quantum theory of gravity in which quantum fields interact with a space-time of extreme curvature. He examined quantum effects created by the presence of a fermion field (electrons, neutrinos, etc.) in blackhole and worm hole space-times. The nature of these effects may predict the non-existence of astrophysical objects that produce extreme space-time curvature.

Courses Taught

• Introductory physics for scientists and engineers
• Introductory physics for the health professions
• Classical Mechanics
• Electricity and Magnetism 1 & 2
• General relativity
• Particle physics
• Honors seminars

Research Interests

• Solutions to the Einstein field equations
• Neutron star and magnetar structure
• Quantum fields in space-times with large curvature
• Plausibility of wormholes in the framework of semi-classical general relativity
• Mathematical physics

Publications

Related papers coauthored by Hirsch:

• Semiclassical Gravity in the Far Field Limit of Stars, Black Holes, and Wormholes
• Stress-Energy Tensor for the Massless Spin 1/2 Field in Static Black Hole Spacetimes

Other related paper:

• Method to compute the stress-energy tensor for the massless spin 1/2 field in a general static spherically symmetric spacetime

PhD Dissertation:

• Quantum Effects of the Massless Spin One-Half Field in Static Spherically Symmetric Black Hole and Wormhole Spacetimes