Each year, the SPIRES team compiles a list of the most-cited research articles in high-energy physics. Here we present the most recent addition to this collection. As usual, the Particle Data Group's Review of Particle Physics tops the 2008 list of the most highly cited papers. The top ten is composed of papers in observational astrophysics/cosmology, string theory, and extra dimensions.
Keep in mind that citation counts can never be exact: There is something like a 5% error in most of these numbers. Please do not fret about number 32 versus 33, as this is often not a statistically significant difference. Remember the detailed warning about the accuracy of these counts. A collection of lists for topcited papers in 2008 for individual eprint archives is available.
Also note that the counts shown, and used in the rankings, are the counts as of Thursday, January 8, 2009. Further, the counts shown by the ranking are only the cites satisfying the criteria for that list. Actual citation numbers in the database may change as corrections are made and papers are added, the links will take you to the updated numbers. The lists, however, will not update.
- 1994
Review of Particle Physics
By Particle Data Group
Citations are counted for all versions of the RPP, most recent version is:
Published in:Phys.Lett.B667:1,2008
[391 Total citations in HEP]
[32872 Total Citations to all copies of RPP in HEP] - 924
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) three year results: implications for cosmology
By WMAP Collaboration
Published in:Astrophys.J.Suppl.170:377,2007
(arXiv:astro-ph/0603449)
[3245 Total citations in HEP] - 731
The Large N limit of superconformal field theories and supergravity
By Juan Martin Maldacena (Harvard U.).
Published in:Adv.Theor.Math.Phys.2:231-252,1998, Int.J.Theor.Phys.38:1113-1133,1999
(arXiv:hep-th/9711200)
[5812 Total citations in HEP] - 658
Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation
By WMAP Collaboration
HEP Record
(arXiv:0803.0547)
[683 Total citations in HEP] - 500
Maps of dust IR emission for use in estimation of reddening and CMBR foregrounds
By David J. Schlegel (Durham U.), Douglas P. Finkbeiner, Marc Davis (UC, Berkeley).
Published in:Astrophys.J.500:525,1998
(arXiv:astro-ph/9710327)
[3910 Total citations in HEP] - 492
First year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) observations: Determination of cosmological parameters
By WMAP Collaboration
Published in:Astrophys.J.Suppl.148:175,2003
(arXiv:astro-ph/0302209)
[5133 Total citations in HEP] - 491
Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 high redshift supernovae
By Supernova Cosmology Project
Published in:Astrophys.J.517:565-586,1999
(arXiv:astro-ph/9812133)
[4168 Total citations in HEP] - 480
Anti-de Sitter space and holography
By Edward Witten (Princeton, Inst. Advanced Study).
Published in:Adv.Theor.Math.Phys.2:253-291,1998
(arXiv:hep-th/9802150)
[3900 Total citations in HEP] - 462
Observational evidence from supernovae for an accelerating universe and a cosmological constant
By Supernova Search Team
Published in:Astron.J.116:1009-1038,1998
(arXiv:astro-ph/9805201)
[3981 Total citations in HEP] - 425
Gauge theory correlators from noncritical string theory
By S.S. Gubser, Igor R. Klebanov, Alexander M. Polyakov (Princeton U.).
Published in:Phys.Lett.B428:105-114,1998
(arXiv:hep-th/9802109)
[3433 Total citations in HEP] - 393
A Large mass hierarchy from a small extra dimension
By Lisa Randall (Princeton U. & MIT, LNS), Raman Sundrum (Boston U.).
Published in:Phys.Rev.Lett.83:3370-3373,1999
(arXiv:hep-ph/9905221)
[4029 Total citations in HEP] - 311
Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
By G. Bruzual (Merida, CIDA), Stephane Charlot (Garching, Max Planck Inst. & Paris, Inst. Astrophys.).
Published in:Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.344:1000,2003
(arXiv:astro-ph/0309134)
[1225 Total citations in HEP] - 295
Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Likelihoods and Parameters from the WMAP data
By WMAP Collaboration
HEP Record
(arXiv:0803.0586)
[306 Total citations in HEP] - 288
A Universal density profile from hierarchical clustering
By Julio F. Navarro (Arizona U., Astron. Dept. - Steward Observ.), Carlos S. Frenk (Durham U.), Simon D.M. White (Garching, Max Planck Inst.).
Published in:Astrophys.J.490:493-508,1997
(arXiv:astro-ph/9611107)
[2107 Total citations in HEP] - 283
An Alternative to compactification
By Lisa Randall (Princeton U. & MIT, LNS), Raman Sundrum (Boston U.).
Published in:Phys.Rev.Lett.83:4690-4693,1999
(arXiv:hep-th/9906064)
[3607 Total citations in HEP] - 280
The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)
By M.F. Skrutskie, R.M. Cutri, R. Stiening, M.D. Weinberg, S. Schneider, J.M. Carpenter, C. Beichman, R. Capps, T. Chester, J. Elias, J. Huchra, J. Liebert, C.
Lonsdale, D.G. Monet, S. Price, P. Seitzer, T. Jarrett, J.D. Kirkpatrick, J.E. Gizis, E. Howard, T. Evans, J. Fowler, L. Fullmer, R. Hurt, R. Light, E.L. Kopan,
K.A. Marsh, H.L. McCallon, R. Tam, S. Van Dyk, S. Wheelock.
Published in:Astron.J.131:1163-1183,2006
[633 Total citations in HEP] - 280
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary
By SDSS Collaboration
Published in:Astron.J.120:1579-1587,2000
(arXiv:astro-ph/0006396)
[1683 Total citations in HEP] - 277
The Hierarchy problem and new dimensions at a millimeter
By Nima Arkani-Hamed (SLAC), Savas Dimopoulos (Stanford U., Phys. Dept.), G.R. Dvali (ICTP, Trieste).
Published in:Phys.Lett.B429:263-272,1998
(arXiv:hep-ph/9803315)
[3632 Total citations in HEP] - 269
Type Ia supernova discoveries at z > 1 from the Hubble Space Telescope: Evidence for past deceleration and constraints on dark energy evolution
By Supernova Search Team
Published in:Astrophys.J.607:665-687,2004
(arXiv:astro-ph/0402512)
[1548 Total citations in HEP] - 269
Dynamics of dark energy
By Edmund J. Copeland (Nottingham U.), M. Sami (Jamia Millia Islamia), Shinji Tsujikawa (Gunma Coll. Tech.).
Published in:Int.J.Mod.Phys.D15:1753-1936,2006
(arXiv:hep-th/0603057)
[706 Total citations in HEP] - 265
New generation of parton distributions with uncertainties from global QCD analysis
By J. Pumplin, D.R. Stump, J. Huston, H.L. Lai, Pavel M. Nadolsky, W.K. Tung (Michigan State U.).
Published in:JHEP 0207:012,2002
(arXiv:hep-ph/0201195)
[1286 Total citations in HEP] - 257
The Supernova legacy survey: Measurement of omega(m), omega(lambda) and W from the first year data set
By The SNLS Collaboration
Published in:Astron.Astrophys.447:31-48,2006
(arXiv:astro-ph/0510447)
[804 Total citations in HEP] - 255
Particle Creation by Black Holes
By S.W. Hawking (Cambridge U.).
Published in:Commun.Math.Phys.43:199-220,1975, Erratum-ibid.46:206-206,1976
[3224 Total citations in HEP] - 239
The relationship between infrared, optical, and ultraviolet extinction
By Jason A. Cardelli, Geoffrey C. Clayton, John S. Mathis (Washburn Observ.).
Published in:Astrophys.J.345:245-256,1989
[1972 Total citations in HEP] - 235
The Structure of cold dark matter halos
By Julio F. Navarro (Arizona U., Astron. Dept. - Steward Observ.), Carlos S. Frenk (Durham U.), Simon D.M. White (Garching, Max Planck Inst.).
Published in:Astrophys.J.462:563-575,1996
(arXiv:astro-ph/9508025)
[1593 Total citations in HEP] - 223
The Luminosity function and stellar evolution
By Edwin E. Salpeter.
Published in:Astrophys.J.121:161,1955
[1463 Total citations in HEP] - 218
Large N field theories, string theory and gravity
By Ofer Aharony (Rutgers U., Piscataway), Steven S. Gubser (Harvard U.), Juan Martin Maldacena (Harvard U. & Princeton, Inst. Advanced Study), Hirosi Ooguri (UC
, Berkeley & LBL, Berkeley), Yaron Oz (CERN).
Published in:Phys.Rept.323:183-386,2000
(arXiv:hep-th/9905111)
[2012 Total citations in HEP] - 214
PYTHIA 6.4 Physics and Manual
By Torbjorn Sjostrand (Lund U., Dept. Theor. Phys.), Stephen Mrenna, Peter Skands (Fermilab).
Published in:JHEP 0605:026,2006
(arXiv:hep-ph/0603175)
[422 Total citations in HEP] - 209
CP Violation in the Renormalizable Theory of Weak Interaction
By Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide Maskawa (Kyoto U.).
Published in:Prog.Theor.Phys.49:652-657,1973
[5594 Total citations in HEP] - 208
Detection of the baryon acoustic peak in the large-scale correlation function of SDSS luminous red galaxies
By SDSS Collaboration
Published in:Astrophys.J.633:560-574,2005
(arXiv:astro-ph/0501171)
[711 Total citations in HEP] - 206
The Inflationary Universe: A Possible Solution to the Horizon and Flatness Problems
By Alan H. Guth (SLAC).
Published in:Phys.Rev.D23:347-356,1981
[3305 Total citations in HEP] - 204
Black holes in binary systems. Observational appearance
By N.I. Shakura (Sternberg Astron. Inst.), R.A. Sunyaev (Moscow, IPM).
Published in:Astron.Astrophys.24:337-355,1973
[1419 Total citations in HEP] - 203
The Cosmological constant and dark energy
By P.J.E. Peebles (Princeton U.), Bharat Ratra (Kansas State U.).
Published in:Rev.Mod.Phys.75:559-606,2003
(arXiv:astro-ph/0207347)
[1207 Total citations in HEP] - 203
High-energy physics event generation with PYTHIA 6.1
By Torbjorn Sjostrand (Lund U., Dept. Theor. Phys.), Patrik Eden (Nordita), Christer Friberg, Leif Lonnblad, Gabriela Miu (Lund U., Dept. Theor. Phys.), Stephen
Mrenna (UC, Davis), Emanuel Norrbin (Lund U., Dept. Theor. Phys.).
Published in:Comput.Phys.Commun.135:238-259,2001
(arXiv:hep-ph/0010017)
[1405 Total citations in HEP] - 199
Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Data Processing, Sky Maps, and Basic Results
By WMAP Collaboration
HEP Record
(arXiv:0803.0732)
[208 Total citations in HEP] - 194
First year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) observations: Preliminary maps and basic results
By WMAP Collaboration
Published in:Astrophys.J.Suppl.148:1,2003
(arXiv:astro-ph/0302207)
[2480 Total citations in HEP] - 193
Gauge symmetry and supersymmetry of multiple M2-branes
By Jonathan Bagger (Johns Hopkins U.), Neil Lambert (King's Coll. London, Dept. Math).
Published in:Phys.Rev.D77:065008,2008
(arXiv:0711.0955)
[195 Total citations in HEP] - 190
Cosmological constant: The Weight of the vacuum
By T. Padmanabhan (IUCAA, Pune).
Published in:Phys.Rept.380:235-320,2003
(arXiv:hep-th/0212290)
[890 Total citations in HEP] - 188
Simulating the joint evolution of quasars, galaxies and their large-scale distribution
By Volker Springel, Simon D.M. White, Adrian Jenkins, Carlos S. Frenk, Naoki Yoshida, Liang Gao, Julio Navarro, Robert Thacker, Darren Croton, John Helly, John
A. Peacock, Shaun Cole, Peter Thomas, Hugh Couchman, August Evrard, Joerg Colberg, Frazer Pearce (Garching, Max Planck Inst. & Durham U. & Nagoya U. & Victoria
U. & McMaster U. & Edinburgh U., Inst. Astron. & Sussex U. & Sussex U., Astron. Ctr. & Michigan U. & Pittsburgh U. & Nottingham U.).
Published in:Nature 435:629-636,2005
(arXiv:astro-ph/0504097)
[486 Total citations in HEP] - 186
De Sitter vacua in string theory
By Shamit Kachru (Stanford U., Phys. Dept. & SLAC), Renata Kallosh, Andrei Linde (Stanford U., Phys. Dept.), Sandip P. Trivedi (Tata Inst.).
Published in:Phys.Rev.D68:046005,2003
(arXiv:hep-th/0301240)
[1168 Total citations in HEP] - 186
New Hubble Space Telescope Discoveries of Type Ia Supernovae at z>=1: Narrowing Constraints on the Early Behavior of Dark Energy
By Adam G. Riess, Louis-Gregory Strolger, Stefano Casertano, Henry C. Ferguson, Bahram Mobasher, Ben Gold, Peter J. Challis, Alexei V. Filippenko, Saurabh Jha,
Weidong Li, John Tonry, Ryan Foley, Robert P. Kirshner, Mark Dickinson, Emily MacDonald, Daniel Eisenstein, Mario Livio, Josh Younger, Chun Xu, Tomas Dahlen, Da
niel Stern (Johns Hopkins U. & Baltimore, Space Telescope Sci. & Western Kentucky U. & Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys. & UC, Berkeley, Astron. Dept. & Inst.
Astron., Honolulu & NOAO, Tucson & Arizona U., Astron. Dept. - Steward Observ. & Caltech, JPL).
Published in:Astrophys.J.659:98-121,2007
(arXiv:astro-ph/0611572)
[421 Total citations in HEP] - 180
Cosmological parameters from SDSS and WMAP
By SDSS Collaboration
Published in:Phys.Rev.D69:103501,2004
(arXiv:astro-ph/0310723)
[1225 Total citations in HEP] - 179
New dimensions at a millimeter to a Fermi and superstrings at a TeV
By Ignatios Antoniadis (Ecole Polytechnique), Nima Arkani-Hamed (SLAC), Savas Dimopoulos (Stanford U., Phys. Dept.), G.R. Dvali (ICTP, Trieste).
Published in:Phys.Lett.B436:257-263,1998
(arXiv:hep-ph/9804398)
[2707 Total citations in HEP] - 178
Algebraic structures on parallel M2-branes
By Andreas Gustavsson (Goteborg, ITP).
HEP Record
(arXiv:0709.1260)
[181 Total citations in HEP] - 176
The Many lives of AGN: Cooling flows, black holes and the luminosities and colours of galaxies
By Darren J. Croton, Volker Springel, Simon D.M. White, G. De Lucia (Garching, Max Planck Inst.), C.S. Frenk (Durham U.), L. Gao (Garching, Max Planck Inst.), A
. Jenkins (Durham U.), G. Kauffmann (Garching, Max Planck Inst.), J.F. Navarro (Victoria U.), N. Yoshida (Nagoya U.).
Published in:Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.365:11-28,2006
(arXiv:astro-ph/0508046)
[439 Total citations in HEP] - 175
Experimental and theoretical challenges in the search for the quark gluon plasma: The STAR Collaboration's critical assessment of the evidence from RHIC collisi
ons
By STAR Collaboration
Published in:Nucl.Phys.A757:102-183,2005
(arXiv:nucl-ex/0501009)
[624 Total citations in HEP] - 174
Anti-de Sitter space, thermal phase transition, and confinement in gauge theories
By Edward Witten (Princeton, Inst. Advanced Study).
Published in:Adv.Theor.Math.Phys.2:505-532,1998
(arXiv:hep-th/9803131)
[1205 Total citations in HEP] - 174
N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons-matter theories, M2-branes and their gravity duals
By Ofer Aharony (Weizmann Inst.), Oren Bergman (Princeton, Inst. Advanced Study & Technion), Daniel Louis Jafferis (Rutgers U., Piscataway), Juan Maldacena (Pri
nceton, Inst. Advanced Study).
Published in:JHEP 0810:091,2008
(arXiv:0806.1218)
[176 Total citations in HEP] - 173
Modeling Multiple M2's
By Jonathan Bagger (Johns Hopkins U.), Neil Lambert (King's Coll. London, Dept. Math).
Published in:Phys.Rev.D75:045020,2007
(arXiv:hep-th/0611108)
[184 Total citations in HEP] - 170
Star formation in galaxies along the Hubble sequence
By Robert C. Kennicutt, Jr. (Arizona U., Astron. Dept. - Steward Observ.).
Published in:Ann.Rev.Astron.Astrophys.36:189-231,1998
(arXiv:astro-ph/9807187)
[929 Total citations in HEP]