A Forward Modeling Approach to Characterizing the Absorption Lines Associated with the Multiphase CIrcumgalactic Medium
Dr. Sameer
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Department of Physics & Astronomy
University of Notre Dame
Understanding how galaxies grow and evolve over the cosmic history is a key objective of contemporary astrophysics. To accomplish this, it is necessary to separate the competing effects of the various baryonic processes, such as the accretion of gas from the cosmic web, outflows and feedback from stellar evolution and death, and supermassive black holes. These myriad physical processes are traced by the multiphase circumgalactic medium (CGM) gas, and can be conveniently probed using absorption lines seen in the spectra of background quasars. In this talk, I will present the development of a novel forward modeling Bayesian approach aimed at detailed characterization of absorption lines tracing the multiphase CGM gas, and thus to disentangle the signatures of various baryonic processes. I will then discuss applications of this method to small sample studies across different cosmic epochs, and to a large systematic survey at z < 1.
Hosted by Prof. Lehner