Lindsey Byrne
- Program Year: 4
- Academic Institution: Northwestern University
- Field of Study: Astronomy
- Academic Advisor: Claude-Andre Faucher-Giguere
- Practicum(s):
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2021) - Degree(s):
B.A. Physics, Grinnell College, 2018
Summary of Research
Computer simulations of galaxy formation have greatly increased our understanding of the physics of galaxy evolution, helping to answer important questions about galactic processes such as star formation and stellar feedback, the structure of gas in and around galaxies, and the effects of galaxy mergers and collisions. In large-scale cosmological simulations, sub-grid models are used to simulate processes which occur below the resolution of the simulation; however, it is still unclear what models should be used to produce galaxies which best agree with observations of global star formation rates, scaling relations among stellar mass, halo mass, and black hole mass, etc. In my current research, I am developing and producing simulations with feedback from accreting supermassive black holes (also known as active galactic nuclei or AGN). These black holes produce massive amounts of energy in the forms of winds and relativistic jets, and may have a significant impact on galaxy evolution.Publications
L. Byrne, C. Christensen, M. Tsekitsidis, A. Brooks, and T. Quinn (2019). "Implementing Dust Shielding as a Criteria for Star Formation", Astrophys. Journal, 871, 213. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaf9aaL. Byrne, C-A Fauchere-Giguere, J. Stern, D. Angles-Alcazar, S. Wellons, and A. Gurvich. "Stellar feedback-regulated black hole growth: driving factors from nuclear to halo scales". Submitted to MNRAS. Arxiv pre-print: https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.09320
Awards
NSF GRFP Honorable Mention, 2018H. George Apostle Prize in Physics, Grinnell College, 2018
Trustee Honor Scholar, Grinnell College, 2014-2018
National Merit Scholar, Grinnell College, 2014-2018