About Me
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.
Research
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
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.
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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?
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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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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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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 topicGroup Members
Daniele Sorini
Daniele Sorini
Postdoc
Research interests: Cosmology, galaxy formation, large-scale structure, circumgalactic medium
Mac McMullan
Mac McMullan
First Year PhD Student
Research interests: Dwarf galaxies, dark matter, semi-analytic galaxy formation
Yuchan Wang
Yuchan Wang
Second Year PhD Student
Research interests: Dark matter, small-scale structure, cosmological zoom simulations, cosmic web
Joaquin Sureda
Joaquin Sureda
First Year PhD Student
Research interests: Dwarf galaxies, cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, dark matter
Sarah Johnston
Sarah Johnston
First Year PhD Student
Research interests: Cosmological simulations with GPUs, dark matter, large-scale structure, galaxy formation
Michael Collier
Michael Collier
First Year PhD Student
Research interests: Modified gravity, tests of gravity, hydrodynamical simulations, galaxy-halo connection
External Members
Haonan Zheng
Haonan Zheng
Visiting PhD Student from the National Astronomical Observatories (Beijing, China)
Research interests: Dark matter, cosmological zoom simulations, numerical methods
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
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
sownak.bose@durham.ac.uk+44 (0) 191 33 43359
OCW221
Department of Physics
Durham University
South Road
Durham, DH1 3LE
UK