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Charlotte Christensen, professor of physics and astronomy, is part of a team that received a $198,000 from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) to study dwarf galaxies with data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).  

The RCSA awarded grants to seven teams of cross-disciplinary scientists working with the LSST data. These awards are part of the RCSA Scialog program — an initiative combining science and dialogue with the aim of enhancing creativity and accelerating breakthroughs by building networks of scientists that break disciplinary boundaries and foster innovation.

The project, titled “First Light in the Void,” is focused on detecting and understanding dwarf galaxies in low-density areas of space known as “cosmic voids.” Christensen said, “If you look out, there are spaces where you basically see no galaxies, but we think there are some small, low-mass galaxies out there. With the LSST data we hope to detect some of these galaxies, and if we do it will tell us interesting things about how galaxies form in these extreme environments.” Specifically, voids may be subject to less of the light produced by other galaxies and quasars (cosmic UV background radiation) that can shut off star formation in small galaxies.

Professor Christensen will work with Mia de los Reyes of Amherst College and Kristen McQuinn of Rutgers University – New Brunswick. They have run into each other at conferences, but this is the first formal project these researchers will complete together. While de los Reyes works to find the galaxies in the data and McQuinn characterizes the galaxies they do find, Christensen is building simulations where she can adjust the UV radiation to predict and interpret what they might see in the data. “This is a new set of simulations, so that’s fun. But I’m most excited about having a chance to collaborate with these really interesting other scientists,” Christensen said.