Postdoctoral Fellowship: AAPF: Our Galaxy's Formation: Decoding the Clues Concealed in its Center

Lucey, Madeline, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

Madeline Lucey is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the University of Pennsylvania. Lucey will use large spectroscopic surveys and machine learning to study the chemistry, and movement of stars in the inner regions of our Galaxy. Results from this work will illuminate the major physical processes driving the formation and evolution of our Galaxy. For the educational component of this project, Lucey will mentor undergraduate students in related research projects, run a book club in the physics department focused on equity in science education, and perform outreach activities through Philadelphia's Astronomy on Tap chapter. This research project will use spectroscopic data of millions of stars to better understand the chemical and dynamical structure of the inner Galaxy, while making use of cosmological zoom-in simulations to test how those structures are impacted by the processes of Galaxy formation. For the first part of this project, Lucey will investigate the relation between chemistry and dynamics in the pressure-supported inner Galactic halo in order to illuminate the relative roles of hierarchical and secular evolution in the Galaxy's early formation history. For the second part, Lucey will study the rotation-supported Galactic bar by determining the chemical distributions of the bar orbit families in order to trace the bar's formation history. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.