Prof. Karl Glazebrook
My research is focussed on the structure, nature and history of our Universe. I work on fundamental cosmology trying to answer basic questions such as determining the nature of the dark energy which causes the expansion of the Universe to accelerate. Observations here play a vital role in pinning down the basic cosmological parameters (for example the WiggleZ dark energy project), and in particular I have pioneered the new technique of probing cosmology using "cosmic sound" - the largest features in the Universe are literal large-scale "frozen" sound waves in the matter distribution. Come and see me for a more detailed explanation!
This work is counterpointed by my other main interest - understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies, the basic building blocks of the Universe, over cosmic time. By observing the distant Universe with very large optical/IR telescopes (Gemini, Magellan, HST) we can directly see all these processes happening, I have been involved in some of the deepest high-redshift galaxy surveys ever done and am now particularly interested in finding the very earliest primordial objects which lit up the early Universe less than a billion years after the Big Bang. In order to accomplish these goals I also dabble in concepts for advanced astronomical instrumentation.
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