About Me

about

I am an astronomer at the Institute for Computational Cosmology, part of the Department of Physics at Durham University. Before this, I was an ITC Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (2017-2021). I received my PhD at Durham (2013-2017), and my undergraduate/Masters degree in Physics at St.Catherine's College, University of Oxford (2009-2013).
My research makes use of some of the largest supercomputers in the world to study the formation of galaxies in our Universe. I am especially interested in trying to figure new ways to test models of dark matter and gravity, and making predictions that could potentially be measured in the real distribution of galaxies in the cosmos. You can read more about my research interests here .
Besides research, I am very passionate about education and outreach, and enjoy thinking about new ways of communicating science. Perhaps most importantly, my primary passion is football, and my outlook on life is usually dictated by how Manchester United have been performing at that point in the season. ​

Curriculum Vitae


...or click here if the CV does not show up on your browser. You can find a full list of my publications here.

Research

1

The nature of dark matter

What is the identity of the dark matter that dominates the gravity of our Universe? How do the properties of the particle affect the formation of galaxies in our cosmos? By confronting theoretical data with ever more precise observational data, we can hope to one day pin down the nature of this most enigmatic component of our Universe.

Click here for my publications on this topic
2

Near-field cosmology

The Milky Way and its faint, neigbouring satellite galaxies offer some of the best laboratories for constraining the properties of dark matter, and provide us an opportunity to understand how the first generation of galaxies formed.

Click here for my publications on this topic
3

The galaxy-halo connection

While our goal as comsologists is to infer the underlying structure of the Universe, all we observe is the observable galaxy population. What determines the mapping between the luminous and the dark matter? How does the growth history of dark matter haloes influence the galactic populations that eventually reside within them?

Click here for my publications on this topic
4

Cosmic reionisation

As the Universe emerges out of the cosmic dark ages, the first stars and galaxies begin to illuminate the cosmos through gradually expanding islands of radiation. This epoch of "cosmic dawn" encodes key details of identity of the dark matter, and plays a vital role in the distribution of the galaxies we observe today.

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5

Large-scale structure

The Cosmic Web of structure spans several billions of light years and is dotted with galaxies; galaxies that we one day hope to map through large-scale redshift surveys. In the upcoming decade a plethora of new surveys will provide some of the tightest constraints on the cosmological parameters underpinning our Universe.

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6

The nature of gravity

It is now well-established that expansion of our Universe is accelerating--but our theories for what drives this expansion are still woefully incomplete. Is it the vacuum energy in the form of a cosmological constant? Or does a complete picture of accelerated expansion demand a modification to the equations of General Relativity altogether?

Click here for my publications on this topic

Group Members

team-1

Daniele Sorini

Daniele Sorini
Postdoc

Research interests: Cosmology, galaxy formation, large-scale structure, circumgalactic medium

team-2

Mac McMullan

Mac McMullan
First Year PhD Student

Research interests: Dwarf galaxies, dark matter, semi-analytic galaxy formation

team-3

Yuchan Wang

Yuchan Wang
Second Year PhD Student

Research interests: Dark matter, small-scale structure, cosmological zoom simulations, cosmic web

team-3

Joaquin Sureda

Joaquin Sureda
First Year PhD Student

Research interests: Dwarf galaxies, cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, dark matter

team-3

Sarah Johnston

Sarah Johnston
First Year PhD Student

Research interests: Cosmological simulations with GPUs, dark matter, large-scale structure, galaxy formation

team-3

Michael Collier

Michael Collier
First Year PhD Student

Research interests: Modified gravity, tests of gravity, hydrodynamical simulations, galaxy-halo connection

External Members

team-3

Haonan Zheng

Haonan Zheng
Visiting PhD Student from the National Astronomical Observatories (Beijing, China)

Research interests: Dark matter, cosmological zoom simulations, numerical methods

team-3

Bipradeep Saha

Bipradeep Saha
Undegraduate at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (Kolkata, India)

Research interests: Galaxy formation, effects of baryons on large-scale structure

team-3

Yash Gondhalekar

Yash Gondhalekar
Undegraduate at BITS Pilani (Goa, India)

Research interests: Machine learning, artificial intelligence, cosmological simulations, modified gravity

Outreach & Education

Under construction! ​

Contact Me

Get In Touch

+44 (0) 191 33 43359

OCW221
Department of Physics
Durham University
South Road
Durham, DH1 3LE
UK

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