Observational Astronomy
I study galaxies and the intergalactic medium (IGM) at a variety of wavelengths. At long wavelengths I use radio telescopes to detect neutral hydrogen in the smallest nearby dwarf galaxies. At the other end of spectrum - in the distance Universe - I utilise near-IR and optical spectrographs to search for metals in the IGM at the highest redshifts. Recently we discovered the highest redshift (z=5.7) galaxy-CIV absorber pair. At a separation of just 79 kpc it's the best example of a metal-rich ionized outflow from a galaxy close to the epoch of reionization (See Diaz et al. 2011).
Telescopes and instruments I’m excited about
My publications in ADS
Postdocs
2010 Jeff Cooke
ARC Discovery Project ‘The Intergalactic Medium:
from cosmic dawn to the local web’
Students
If you’re interested in working with me, check the CAS webpages
for vacation and PhD projects.
Current Swinburne PhD students
2010 Gonzalo Diaz
‘Connecting galaxies and the intergalactic medium in the early Universe’
Undergraduates hosted at Swinburne
Current students
Past students
2009 Michael Oberparleither (IAESTE: Bayreuth, Germany)
‘The star formation rates of Damped Lyman-alpha absorbers’
Projects
2009 Semester 2: Steady State vs Big Bang
Subjects
HET604: Galaxies and their place in the Universe
Brief CV
2010-2014 QEII Research Fellow
2011- Senior Lecturer, Swinburne
2009- Lecturer, Swinburne
2004-2008 Postdoc, IoA, Cambridge
2000-2004 PhD, University of Melbourne
