Colloq Abstract - Perley
December 17, 2018
11:00am Mountain
Daniel Perley (Liverpool John Moores University)
An Explosive view of our Dynamic Universe
Abstract
Starting with the days of Messier and continuing through to the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, observational studies of our Universe have largely been based on direct searches for the populations of galaxies that reside within it. While we owe much of what we know about the cosmos to these methods, they are poorly suited to a variety of circumstances: galaxies below the detection limit, phases of galaxy evolution that are very short, or regions heavily cloaked by dense gas and dust. I will discuss an alternative probe well-suited to illuminating these dark corners: supernovae and their exotic kin, such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). I will discuss several ongoing projects to trace broader questions of cosmic history using this technique, including: (1) constraints on the starburst duty-cycle of dwarf galaxy evolution via core-collapse supernovae; (2) studies of cosmic metal abundance, dust properties, and the faintest galaxy populations using GRBs at very high redshifts; (3) studies of the role of obscured star-formation at cosmic high-noon using a VLA-ALMA survey of GRB hosts; (4) insight into the conditions around supermassive black holes as illuminated by extreme supernovae and radio transients.
