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In case the link doesn't work, my email is astrorya (at) umich (dot) edu.
Gravitational Lensing Research
Pictured above is RCS 0224-0002.5 C, the subject of most of my work in strong gravitational lensing.
In early 2022, I began learning how to produce strong gravitational lensing models with Professor Keren Sharon at the University of Michigan.
I spent my first semester learning the basics, trying new things, practicing with the software, and building an intuition for spotting lensed objects.
After thorough practice, I was presented with a galaxy cluster to produce a model for further research of a particularly high redshift, lensed galaxy.
The galaxy cluster is RCS 0224-0002.5 C, and it sits at a redshift of z = 0.773, which is approximately 7 billion years after the Big Bang.
The main interest in this galaxy cluster is a z = 4.8786 lensed galaxy, approximately 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. This high redshift galaxy
is a Lyman alpha emitter, which indicates that this galaxy is actively forming stars. My work specifically involved analyzing images of the cluster
and lensed objects in order to produce a lensing model that someone else could use to study the properties of the Lyman alpha emitting galaxy, which
gives us the opportunity to peer into early Universe galaxy and star formation. I had the chance to attend the 241st American Astronomical Society (AAS)
winter meeting and present a poster on my work for this project. This work has led to co-authorship of one
published paper and another still in the works.
More recently, I started another project with Professor Sharon also involving strong gravitational lensing. The goal of this project is to study the
evolution of galaxy clusters and dark matter halos in galaxy clusters. My work so far has been minimal, but my task is to produce simple lensing models
for each candidate galaxy cluster in the project.
From collaboration with peers in my research group at the University of Michigan, I have also gained co-authorship of another paper in the works.
Click here to view my full CV.