Exploring Astrophysics

I enjoyed speaking with Dr Pablo Lemos today as he described his work involving dark matter and energy which includes testing models and determining how accurate they are. He also spoke to me about the research he did for his PHD and how he implemented Artificial Intelligence into one of his projects.

In this episode I spoke to Dr Mahony about her work using gravitational lensing to research more into the properties of dark energy and matter. We spoke about some of the work she found challenging and how she overcame those obstacles, while also speaking about the future implications her research could have in the field of astrophysics.

In this episode we talked about how Aaron became involved with his current research and what AGN galaxies are. It was also very interesting about how he used computational techniques to cut down a database of 500,000 galaxies into just the 200 that met the criteria he was looking for.

In this episode we looked at how astrophysical simulations can never be completely realistic due to the sheer scale of the universe, and how computational astrophysicists have to work around that. Prof. Diemer also spoke about his project with a textile specialist, fabricoftheuniverse.org, which tries to visualise dark matter data in a unique ways, such as representing the data as 3D woven textiles.

In this episode I speak with Dr Nevin on her work building a tool to recognise and classify galaxy mergers. She also talked about using machine learning and statistical tools in her work to assess how realistic fake galaxies can be to the ones observed. We also looked at some of the types of galaxies mergers present.

In this episode I talk to Dr. Tacchella about how his research is looking for ways to explain the structure of galaxies, as well as why they come in many different forms such as spiral and elliptical galaxies. I also talk with Dr. Tacchella about the specific research he is doing, including some of the theories that exist that try to explain the physical properties of galaxies.

A big part of Dr. Massara's research is studying the structure of the universe, and creating simulations to explain the irregularity of matter dispersal in the universe. In particular, we talked about her work observing the voids(A vast space in the universe containing very few galaxies) and how voids are where neutrinos can be indirectly detected.

Dr. Evans is designing new technologies to improve advanced LIGO, a laser interferometer that detects gravitational waves. In 2019 he was awarded the New Horizons in physics prize for research on present and future ground-based detectors of gravitational waves. I talked to him about how he accidentally got into the field of astrophysics, and his work in the LIGO group.

A graduate of Columbia University in New York City, Gladys holds a Bachelor of Science degree in astronomy & physics.  Gladys has conducted high energy particle astrophysics at various labs around the world, such as Nevis Laboratories and as part of the VERITAS collaboration. I talked with Gladys about her experience teaching at MIT, as well as some of the discoveries she think we will witness in the near future in astrophysics. She also recounted how she found her passion in the subject.

Dr Pat Scott leads the Gambit collaboration, a project with multiple theorists and experimentalists from around the world, is a project that aims to use the vast amounts of data available to test the likelihood of models beyond the standard model, which can be downloaded by anyone. I also talked to him about how he got into the field and his experience teaching some students, as well as what he plans to do in the future.