Alan Duffy (astronomer)

Last updated

Alan R. Duffy
Duffy Skepticon 2017 11 18.jpg
Duffy speaking at the Skepticon conference in Sydney, Australia on 18 November 2017
Born1983 (age 39–40)
Peterborough, England, UK
Alma mater University of Manchester
SpouseSarah Clarke (m. 2016)
Scientific career
Fields Astronomy
Institutions

Alan R. Duffy (born 1983) is a British and Australian professional astronomer and science communicator. He was born in England, raised in Northern Ireland, and is currently based in Australia. He is a professor at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University of Technology, and is the Lead Scientist at the Royal Institution of Australia.

Contents

His research is focused on using super-computers to build and test models of the growth of galaxies within vast dark matter halos, and in particular focuses on the formation of the first galaxies in the early universe during the "Epoch of Reionisation". These models aim to improve our understanding of the nature of dark matter, and the large scale properties of the universe.

Early life and studies

Duffy was born in Peterborough, England. His family migrated to Northern Ireland when he was four years old, where he attended Ballyclare High School. [1]

His undergraduate studies in physics were conducted at the University of Manchester. He incorporated periods of study in the Netherlands on an EU scholarship, working on supercomputers at Europe's oldest observatory in Leiden University, and undertook physics at the University of Amsterdam, even though he spoke no Dutch when he started. [2] He graduated with a MPhys (1st) in 2005. He completed his PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics at Jodrell Bank Observatory based in the University of Manchester in 2009, with his thesis entitled "Investigation of large scale structure in the Universe". [1] [3] [4]

Academic career

As Duffy was completing his doctorate, work was starting on the Australian component of the world's largest astronomical facility, the Square Kilometre Array. His doctoral work had covered similar topics, and he was invited to join the first stage of this telescope; the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). He moved to Perth, Western Australia in 2009 to take up the position at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. Three years later, he moved to Melbourne to accept an academic post as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, where he investigated the formation of the first galaxies in the early universe. [1] [3] Then in 2014 he took up the position of associate professor at Swinburne University of Technology, still based in Melbourne. [5] [6]

Duffy's simulation of the density of gas in and around a galaxy just over a billion years after the Big Bang. New gas is arriving at too great a rate for the galaxy to convert it into stars and the gas piles up. Duffy galaxy gas simulation.png
Duffy's simulation of the density of gas in and around a galaxy just over a billion years after the Big Bang. New gas is arriving at too great a rate for the galaxy to convert it into stars and the gas piles up.

His supercomputer simulations have shown that in very early galaxies, the rate of star formation was not enough to consume the infalling cold gas. Earlier models had assumed this was essentially molecular hydrogen, but the model from Duffy and the DRAGONS ("Dark-ages, Reionization And Galaxy-formation Observables Numerical Simulation") consortium also accounted for atomic (non-molecular) hydrogen. As a result, there was a deficit in the amount of gas that could form stars compared to the amount flowing in. [7] [8] By modelling the galaxies like an economy, Duffy was able to show that the early galaxies were in a "Great Galactic Recession". Those simulations focusing on the dark matter around galaxies demonstrate that without the dark matter, there would not have been enough time since the start of the universe for our galaxy to form. [9]

He has attempted to directly detect this dark matter as part of SABRE ("Sodium-iodide with Active Background REjection"), an international research consortium with teams in Italy, US and Australia. SABRE is constructing the southern hemisphere's first dark matter detector 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) underground in a gold mine in Stawell, Victoria. [10] [11] [12] He is also part of two Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence, investigating the origin of matter (ASTRO-3D) and seeing the Universe with gravitational waves (OzGrav), [13] and he was a member of the worldwide OWLS (OverWhelmingly Large Simulations) collaboration. [14]

Science communications

In October 2017, the Royal Institution of Australia announced that it appointed Duffy as its Lead Scientist. [15]

Duffy appears regularly on ABC's Breakfast News TV, ABC Radio Sydney, ABC Radio Melbourne, Ten's The Project , Nine's Today Weekends and TripleJ's Hack show, where he explains developments in science and space. [16] He writes a regular column in The Conversation [17] and the science magazine Cosmos . [18]

He has presented at TEDx in the Sydney Opera House. [19] He was the Ambassador for the Sydney Science Festival 2016, [20] and host for Famelab showcasing Australian research and achievement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. [21] He hosted an Evening with  Neil DeGrasse Tyson at the Melbourne Convention Centre, interviewed onstage Lawrence Krauss [22] as well as Brian Greene, [23] and presented in a national tour for BBC Worldwide's The Science of Doctor Who . [24] He was a featured speaker at the Australian Skeptics' national conventions in 2017 [25] and 2018. [26] In 2018 he was a host of ABC's Stargazing Live series. [27]

He wrote and starred in a 2012 science documentary about dark matter, Dark. Since December 2012 he has co-hosted the YouTube series Pint in the Sky with Katie Mack, [28] and in March 2017 he started a new podcast, Cosmic Vertigo with co-host Amanda Bauer. [29] As part of Science Week 2017, Duffy and Katie Mack launched a virtual reality tour of the Universe, using custom-made headsets and a free app. [30]

Duffy's good looks have helped to attract media attention – MamaMia commented that "Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear what he was saying over the sound of his cheekbones." [31]

Personal life

In January 2016, Duffy married Sarah Clarke. He qualified as an Australian citizen in October 2014. [1]

Duffy has a keen interest in science fiction, telling the Belfast Telegraph:

Sci-fi was a big inspiration. My mum had remarried and my stepdad at the time was a ferocious nerd like me. We watched everything – Star Trek, Star Wars, all the classic sci-fi books by Asimov and Arthur C Clarke – and it opened up this world to me of all these possibilities... And, of course, Stephen Hawking's books – how could you not want to study physics? There are these incredible concepts – black holes, the universe expanding – that are so bizarre and yet are actually part of our world. [1]

Awards and recognition

Publications

As of August 2017, NASA's Astrophysics Data System (ADS) lists 29 publications by Duffy, which have 1,487 citations [43] while Cornell University's arXiv lists 31 of his papers, covering a range of topics in general astronomy and cosmology. [44]

The accretion history of dark matter haloes – in three parts:
Dark-ages Reionization and Galaxy formation simulation:

Related Research Articles

The study of galaxy formation and evolution is concerned with the processes that formed a heterogeneous universe from a homogeneous beginning, the formation of the first galaxies, the way galaxies change over time, and the processes that have generated the variety of structures observed in nearby galaxies. Galaxy formation is hypothesized to occur from structure formation theories, as a result of tiny quantum fluctuations in the aftermath of the Big Bang. The simplest model in general agreement with observed phenomena is the Lambda-CDM model—that is, that clustering and merging allows galaxies to accumulate mass, determining both their shape and structure. Hydrodynamics simulation, which simulates both baryons and dark matter, is widely used to study galaxy formation and evolution.

In cosmology and physics, cold dark matter (CDM) is a hypothetical type of dark matter. According to the current standard model of cosmology, Lambda-CDM model, approximately 27% of the universe is dark matter and 68% is dark energy, with only a small fraction being the ordinary baryonic matter that composes stars, planets, and living organisms. Cold refers to the fact that the dark matter moves slowly compared to the speed of light, giving it a vanishing equation of state. Dark indicates that it interacts very weakly with ordinary matter and electromagnetic radiation. Proposed candidates for CDM include weakly interacting massive particles, primordial black holes, and axions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reionization</span> Process that caused matter to reionize early in the history of the Universe

In the fields of Big Bang theory and cosmology, reionization is the process that caused electrically neutral atoms in the universe to reionize after the lapse of the "dark ages".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope</span>

The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), located near Narayangaon, Pune in India, is an array of thirty fully steerable parabolic radio telescopes of 45 metre diameter, observing at metre wavelengths. It is the largest and most sensitive radio telescope array in the world at low frequencies. It is operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), a part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. It was conceived and built under the direction of Late Prof. Govind Swarup during 1984 to 1996. It is an interferometric array with baselines of up to 25 kilometres (16 mi). It was recently upgraded with new receivers, after which it is also known as the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT).

The Lambda-CDM, Lambda cold dark matter or ΛCDM model is a mathematical model of the Big Bang theory with three major components:

  1. a cosmological constant denoted by lambda (Λ) associated with dark energy,
  2. the postulated cold dark matter, and
  3. ordinary matter.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pavo–Indus Supercluster</span> Neighboring supercluster in the constellations Pavo,Indus and Telescopium

The Pavo–Indus Supercluster is a neighboring supercluster located about 60–70 Mpc (196–228 Mly) away in the constellations of Pavo, Indus, and Telescopium. The supercluster contains three main clusters, Abell 3656, Abell 3698, and Abell 3742.

Guinevere Alice Mei-Ing Kauffmann was born in California. She is an astrophysicist and is known for her work studying galaxies among other subjects.

HD 27274, also known as Gliese 167, is a solitary, orange hued star located in the southern constellation Dorado. It has an apparent magnitude of 7.63, making it readily visible in binoculars, but not to the naked eye. Based on parallax measurements from the Gaia spacecraft, the star is known to be located 42.5 light-years away from the Solar System However, it is drifting closer with a heliocentric radial velocity of −23 km/s. At its current distance, HD 27274 is dimmed down by 0.05 magnitudes due to interstellar dust.

The Illustris project is an ongoing series of astrophysical simulations run by an international collaboration of scientists. The aim was to study the processes of galaxy formation and evolution in the universe with a comprehensive physical model. Early results were described in a number of publications following widespread press coverage. The project publicly released all data produced by the simulations in April, 2015. Key developers of the Illustris simulation have been Volker Springel and Mark Vogelsberger. The Illustris simulation framework and galaxy formation model has been used for a wide range of spin-off projects, starting with Auriga and IllustrisTNG followed by Thesan (2021), MillenniumTNG (2022) and TNG-Cluster.

The KBC Void is an immense, comparatively empty region of space, named after astronomers Ryan Keenan, Amy Barger, and Lennox Cowie, who studied it in 2013. The existence of a local underdensity has been the subject of many pieces of literature and research articles.

Benedetta Ciardi is an Italian astrophysicist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4709</span> Galaxy in the constellation Centaurus

NGC 4709 is an elliptical galaxy located in the constellation Centaurus. It is considered to be a member of the Centaurus Cluster and is the dominant member of a small group of galaxies known as "Cen 45" which is currently merging with the main Centaurus Cluster even though the two subclusters' line of sight redshift velocities differ by about 1500 km/s. NGC 4709 was discovered by astronomer James Dunlop on May 7, 1826.

Red nuggets is the nickname given to rare, unusually small galaxies packed with large amounts of red stars that were originally observed by Hubble Space Telescope in 2005 in the young universe. They are ancient remnants of the first massive galaxies. The environments of red nuggets are usually consistent with the general elliptical galaxy population. Most red nuggets have merged with other galaxies, but some managed to stay unscathed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1281</span> Galaxy in the constellation Perseus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4313</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo

NGC 4313 is an edge-on spiral galaxy located about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on March 15, 1784. NGC 4313 is a member of the Virgo Cluster and is classified as LINER and as a Seyfert galaxy.

The Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind surveY (WALLABY) is a next-generation survey of the 21 cm radio emission from neutral hydrogen (HI) in the Local Universe. It is hosted by the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope, WALLABY will survey three-quarters of the sky over a Declination range −90° to +30° to a redshift of 0.26. It will have a angular resolution of 30 arcsec and a sensitivity of 1.6 mJy/beam in each 4 km/s channel. WALLABY is expected to detect about 500,000 galaxies with a mean redshift of 0.05, at a mean distance of about 200 Mpc. The scientific goals of WALLABY include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4393</span> Galaxy in the constellation of Coma Berenices

NGC 4393 is a spiral galaxy about 46 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on April 11, 1785. It is a member of the NGC 4274 Group, which is part of the Coma I Group or Cloud.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Jones, Chris (27 May 2015). "Dr Alan Duffy: Why this Ballyclare boffin has stars in his eyes". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  2. ↑ Duffy, Alan (2 September 2016). "A Letter To My 17-Year-Old Self, By Astronomer And Astrophysicist Alan Duffy". Junkee. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  3. 1 2 Green, Sue (9 April 2016). "Stargazer teaches earthly realities". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  4. ↑ Duffy, Alan R (2009). "Investigation of large scale structure in the Universe". Thesis. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  5. ↑ "Staff, Associate Professor Alan Duffy". swin.edu.au. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  6. ↑ Kivivali, Lea (24 March 2014). "Astronomer Alan Duffy joins Swinburne". www.swinburne.edu.au. Swinburne news. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  7. ↑ "The Great Galactic Recession". Cosmos. 25 July 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  8. ↑ "People". dragons.ph.unimelb.edu.au. DRAGONS – Dark-ages, Reionization And Galaxy-formation Observables Numerical Simulation. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  9. ↑ Alan Duffy is working to solve the mystery of Dark Matter (radio broadcast). Conversations with Richard Fidler. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 9 April 2015. 19:00 minutes in. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  10. ↑ "Astrophysicist Alan Duffy is mining for dark matter". Conversations with Richard Fidler. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  11. ↑ Kivivali, Lea (20 May 2016). "Swinburne researchers join the underground hunt for the universe's dark side". Swinburne University of Technology. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  12. ↑ Duffy, Alan (17 September 2015). "How we plan to bring dark matter to light". The Conversation. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  13. ↑ Scott, Julia (8 September 2016). "New ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery announced". Swinburne University of Technology. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  14. ↑ Schaye, Joop; Vecchia, Claudio Dalla; Booth, C. M.; Wiersma, Robert P. C.; Theuns, Tom; Haas, Marcel R.; Bertone, Serena; Duffy, Alan R.; McCarthy, I. G.; van de Voort, Freeke (1 March 2010). "The physics driving the cosmic star formation history". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 402 (3): 1536–1560. arXiv: 0909.5196 . Bibcode:2010MNRAS.402.1536S. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.16029.x. S2CID   118385462.
  15. ↑ LeMessurier, Julie (9 October 2017). "Alan Duffy to Join Australia's Science Channel" (PDF). riaus.org.au.
  16. ↑ "Alan Duffy". ABC News. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  17. ↑ "Alan Duffy". The Conversation. 12 June 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  18. ↑ "Alan Duffy's author page". Cosmos Magazine.
  19. ↑ "Alan Duffy". TEDxSydney. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  20. ↑ "Sydney Science Festival 2016". National Science Week. July 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  21. ↑ Samata, Cahli (5 May 2017). "The highlights of the FameLab National Final 2017". Particle. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  22. ↑ "Lawrence Krauss: The Greatest Story Ever Told... So Far". www.swf.org.au. Sydney Writers' Festival. 25 May 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  23. ↑ Kivivali, Lea (8 March 2016). "Dr Alan Duffy to host evening with Brian Greene". Swinburne News. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  24. ↑ Bochenski, Natalie (6 May 2014). "Scientists delve into Doctor Who". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  25. ↑ "Skepticon". Inspiring Australia. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  26. ↑ "Australian Skeptics National Convention 2018". skeptics.com.au. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  27. ↑ "Our Focus: Stargazing – ABC". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  28. ↑ Pint in the Sky playlist on YouTube
  29. ↑ Condie, Sarah (27 March 2017). "New podcast takes us to the dizzy heights". Cosmos magazine. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  30. ↑ Kivivali, Lea (11 August 2017). "Explore the Final Frontier through the eyes of Australia's famed astronomers". Swinburne News. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  31. ↑ Robin, Joanna (30 September 2015). "A post for anyone who just asked 'Jeez, who's that bloody hot astronomer?'". Mamamia. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  32. ↑ "WA's best and brightest achievers". The Sunday Times. 28 January 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  33. ↑ "Fresh Science 2013 state finalists". freshscience.org.au. Science in Public Pty Ltd. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  34. ↑ "The Louise Webster Prize". asa.astronomy.org.au. The Astronomical Society of Australia. Archived from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  35. ↑ "Men of Influence 2015" (PDF). Men’s Style magazine. 2015. p. 112.
  36. ↑ "Our 190th Australian of the Day, Dr Alan Duffy". www.facebook.com. Commonwealth Bank of Australia. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  37. ↑ "Club Melbourne Fellowship finalists revealed". www.clubmelbourne.com.au. Club Melbourne. July 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  38. ↑ Kivivali, Lea (7 July 2016). "Dr Alan Duffy shortlisted for Club Melbourne Fellowship". Swinburne University News. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  39. ↑ "2016 Eureka Prizes Finalists". www.australianmuseum.net.au. Australian Museum. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  40. ↑ "Australian Science Superheroes 2016 – Alan Duffy". www.chiefscientist.gov.au. Office of Australia's Chief Scientist. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  41. ↑ "Swinburne's Alan Duffy wins Eureka Prize for promoting science". www.swinburne.edu.au. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  42. ↑ The Science Show – Eureka awards recognise high achievers in science. ABC Radio National. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  43. ↑ "Author Query Results for Alan R Duffy". adsabs.harvard.edu. SAO/NASA. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  44. ↑ "Search results for au:Duffy_A". arXiv.org. Cornell University Library. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
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