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Patrice Bouchet

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Patrice Jean Emmanuel Bouchet de Puyraimond is a French astrophysicist born 03/26/1953 in Brest (France) reknown for his discovery of the arc-Ring around Neptune , his infrared observations of supernova SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and the dust extinction in the Small Magellanic Cloud.

He obtained a ”Special Studies in Astrophysics” diploma at Haute-Provence Observatory (prof. Ch. Fehrenbach; ”Diplome d’Etudes Spéciales”, DES) in 1976. In 1977 he was working at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at La Silla Observatory as a Civil Servant ("VSNA: Volontaire du Service National Actif; former name for Coopérant") and obtained his "Thorough Studies in Astrophysics” diploma (DEA) at Paris VI University (Prof. J. Heyvaerts). After his military service at this observatory he was hired as a “Fellow”. In 1979 he obtained a university degree for “Upper Studies Thesis in Astronomy” ("Thèse de 3eme. Cycle") at Paris VI University under the leadership of Prof. Pierre Léna. He was then appointed as a Staff Astronomer at La Silla Observatory, as head of the Night Assistants group and Operations group. In 1986 he led the infra-red section at La Silla Observatory. Doctor in Science in 1990, (Ph.D.) in “Astrophysics and Spatial Techniques” with the thesis "Les 1001 nuits de SN 1987A: contribution aux observations dans l’infrarouge entre 1 et 20 µm", at Paris VII University (Thesis director: Prof. Lodewijk Woltjer). In 1991 he was appointed as Deputy Head of the Astronomy Department at La Silla and became a Senior Faculty Astronomer at ESO. In 1997 he was hired as a Senior Support Scientist at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO), National Optical Astronomical Observatory (NOAO), AURA Inc. In 2000 he became Support Scientist for the US Gemini Project (NGSC: NOAO Gemini Science Center, NGSC). In 2005 he left Chile to come back to his country where he was appointed as invited Scientist at Paris Observatory in charge of the European Large Projects for France.

From 2006 to present he is a Researcher/Engineer at the "Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA-Saclay)" with a Research Directorship and Project Manager for the Centre of Expertise for the MIRI instrument aboard the James Webb Space Telescope.

From 1979 on, Patrice Bouchet has been involved in the Public Relations and outreach activities for ESO in Chile, and then for CTIO: that includes organizing exhibits, and to give numerous conferences in Chilean Universities, basic schools and colleges, as well as large public conferences all over the country, and to interface with the press media (TV and Newspapers). He continued these activities within CTIO. He wrote a 380 pages book for students ("El Universo y la Vida", in Spanish). Most part of these activities were directed toward universities, where he gave series of lecture to students from various Chilean Universities. He has been an active founding member of the inter-University CACG working group ("Grupo de Astrofisica, Cosmologia y Gravitacion"), the goal of which is to gather competences from Chilean scientists, be they physicists or astronomers, in order to conduct efficient science, and to teach it to next generation, in order to make an optimal use of the new international facilities which are and will be partly at their disposal. He was also member of the National Chilean TAC which evaluates observing proposals for CTIO and Las Campanas Observatories, and a frequent reviewer of the governmental FONDECYT (“FONdo de DEsarollo en Ciencia Y tecnolog´ıa”) and CONECYT (“CONsejo para la Edu- caci´on y Tecnolog´ıa”) proposals for research funding. He collaborated on a regular basis to the REDLASER organization, which gather teachers from the IV region of Chile for divulging astronomy in colleges, as well as with various amateurs associations in France and Europe (SAF, ADAGIO, EURASTRO, TRG, ORION, ACHAYA, TALCA, and SAVAL).

Patrice Bouchet completed the elaboration of a global photometric reduction package, for visible and Infrared data obtained at La Silla (done in collaboration with J. Manfroid from Liège University). After his departure from ESO to CTIO, he was first appointed as Project Manager for the 2-MASS survey on behalf of CTIO (1997-1999). He was the Project Scientist and Manager for the Tip-Tilt system at the 4-m Blanco Telescope and received a “Special AURA Reward” for his achievements in that field. In 2000, he was appointed as the US astronomer (in the frame of the NOAO Gemini Science Center) for the mid-IR instrument T-ReCS at the Gemimi South telescope.

Research:

1. Under his leadership, infrared data have been continuously acquired on supernova SN1987A since its outburst. Observations have been carried out from the visible to 10 and 20 µm at ESO and CTIO, and at 230 GHz (1.3 mm) with the sub-mm SEST telescope. These data have been used to derive the bolometric flux and led to the discovery of dust condensation in the ejecta of the supernova. Images taken in the HeI line (1.083 µm) with the CTIO Blanco 4-m tel and the Tip-Tilt system yield him to detect the emergence of bright spots in the inner equatorial ring before HST did.

2. In collaboration with Dr. Bo Reipurth, he has carried out a long-term photometric and spectroscopic monitoring program of the southern FU Orionis-type object BBW76 spanning the period from 1982 to 1997. Both scientists have discovered a change toward later spectral type with increasing wavelength characteristic of FU Orionis star and indicative of a hot luminous disk, and they suggested that BBW 76 is virtually identical to the prototype of its class, FU Orionis itself, in all respects except that BBW 76 has not shown the regular fading that FU Orionis has displayed after its eruption in 1936. This may be due to continued replenishment of the circumstellar accretion disk.

3. Part of his attention has been also focused on the photometric calibration of the ESA ISO satellite, the program of which he was responsible under the leadership of Prof. Harm Habbing from Leiden Observatory. The aim of this program was to provide accurate photometry of some 300 standard stars in the range 3-60 µm. Together with Professor Habbing and his group from Leiden University, he used photometric measurements made with the ESA Satellite ISO, complemented by some IRAS data at 60 µm of a sample of 81 nearby main-sequence stars of spectral class A, F, G, and K to determine the incidence of dust disks around such main-sequence stars. They concluded that whether all stars arrive on the main sequence surrounded by a disk cannot be established: they showed, in particular that not only some very young stars do not have a disk, but also not all stars destroy their disk in a similar way: some stars as old as the Sun still have significant disks.

4. In collaboration with various groups, he has been also involved in many other studies including a monitoring of the bright QSO 3C273 with (Prof. Thierry Courvoisier from Geneva Observatory and his collaborators); an homogeneous J, H, K, L photometry of 42 BL Lac objects (with Prof. Renato Falomo and collaborators); a monitoring in the near-IR range of a sample of Wolf-Rayet stars which shows that condensation of dust in their wind occurs in a short time scale (∼1–2 years), and that the newly formed dust shells are dissipated on timescales ∼4 years (with Prof. K.A. van der Hucht and collaborators); observations of the mutual eclipses and occultations between the Galilean satellites to derive the corrections of the ephemerides during the events and to get the measurements of the position of hotspots on Io’s visible surface. Together with his observations, a model including the thermal emission of the volcanoes has permited a close representation of the IR lightcurve and has provided new physical parameters related to the two volcanoes Loki and Pele (with Dr. J.E. Arlot and collaborators).

5. Between 1983 and 1990, 9 stellar occultations by Neptune have been observed in the near-IR, which gave 22 temperature profiles of the planet upper stratosphere. These observations confirmed the general increase of temperature from the tropopause to the lower thermosphere of Neptune (with Prof. A.Brahic and collaborators). During one of these observations, he discovered the arc-like ring around Neptune (in collaboration with A. Brahic and his group, and R. Haefner and J. Manfroid).

6. Near-IR photometry on a sample of carbon stars suspected of being CH stars in the LMC, showing that these carbon stars are more luminous than the red giant branch tip of the Galactic Population II giants and CH stars, and therefore are not members of the old stellar population in the LMC (the mean bolometric magnitude for this sample is Mbol=-5.3 while the brightest members reach Mbol =-6.2). They are also significantly bluer and somewhat brighter in the average than the “typical” LMC carbon stars which seems to indicate that they belong to a young population of AGB stars, possibly with ages near 108 years (with Prof. N. Suntzeff).

Major Achievements:

• Discovery of the arc-like ring around Neptune.

• Discovery by IR spectroscopy of the presence of water ice in comet P/Halley.

• Discovery and modeling of dust condensation in the ejecta of SN1987A; elaboration of the more complete and accurate bolometric light curve of the supernova ever published; discovery of hot spots in the inner equatorial ring; first mid-IR imaging of the inner equatorial ring; recovery of the dusty ejecta after day 6000.

• Elaboration of the dust extinction law in the SMC.

• A Minor Planet (MP4313) has been given his name.

Awards:

• Special AURA, Inc. Award for achievement of the Tip-Tilt system at the 4-m Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (National Optical Astronomical Observatories). (April 1999)

• James Webb Space Telescope Significant Achievement Award from ESA, “In recognition of extraordinary contribution to the JWST mission”. (May 2012)

• James Webb Space Telescope Significant Award from NASA, “For significant contribution to the Mid Infra-Red Instrument (MIRI) on the JWST Observatory”. (May 2012)

• James Webb Space Telescope Significant Achievement Award by the NASA JWST Project "In recognition of extraordinary dedication and contributions”. (March 2014)

• RHG Exceptional Achievement "for Engineering Team to ISIM Cryo Vacuum Test Team for the James Webb Space Telescope Integrated ScienceModule", from the Director C.J. Scolese, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (May 2015)

        Patrice Bouchet’s present investigations include the study of supernova SN 1987A which exploded in the LMC, the interactions between the ejecta and the circumstellar environment, in particular through a monitoring of the dust, in order to investigate whether supernovae produce much of the interstellar dust.  Another Patrice Bouchet’s scientific interests is related to the ultimate Iron mass in core-collapse supernovae which he investigate measuring the flux in the [Co II] 10.52 µm ground state transitions from radioactive 56Co. In December 2015, the NASA/ADS archive found 267 articles authored by Patrice Bouchet in scientific revues, with 3521 citations from his peers.