Daryl Haggard

Last updated
Daryl Haggard
Born
Seattle, Washington, United States
Education St. John's College (BA)
San Francisco State University (MSc)
University of Washington (PhD)
Known forMulti-wavelength observations of the Milky Way Galactic Center and Sagittarius A*, X-ray observations of the binary neutron star merger GW170817
Awards CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar (2017– 2019)
Scientific career
Fields Astronomy
Institutions McGill University
Thesis The Fraction of X-ray-active Galaxies in the Field from the Chandra Multiwavelength Project and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey  (2010)
Doctoral advisor Scott F. Anderson and Paul J. Green
Website Personal website

Daryl Haggard is an American-Canadian astronomer and associate professor of physics in the Department of Physics at McGill University and the McGill Space Institute. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Haggard was born in Seattle, Washington, the fifth of eight children, and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico at 6 months of age. [2] Haggard's father was a mathematician and college professor. Her mother trained as biologist and owns a native plant nursery in Santa Fe. [3]

She studied at St. John's College, receiving a Bachelors of Arts in philosophy and mathematics in May 1995. She became fascinated by orbital mechanics after reading Newton's Principia and realizing that mathematical equations could describe the orbits of planets. [3]

In 2004, Haggard received a Master of Science in physics from San Francisco State University, where she studied X-ray-emitting binary stars in the globular cluster Omega Centauri. She received a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Washington in 2010. Her thesis work focused on active galactic nuclei (accreting supermassive black holes at the center of distant galaxies). [4]

Career

After completing her Ph.D., Haggard accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at Northwestern University. She spent one year as an assistant professor of astronomy in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Amherst College, before accepting an assistant professor position at McGill University and joining the newly formed McGill Space Institute in 2015. [3] [5]

Daryl Haggard's research group uses radio, submillimeter, near infrared, and X-ray telescopes to study compact objects, including active galactic nuclei, Sagittarius A* (the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy) and the mergers of neutron stars. [6] [7]

In 2017, she led a team that used the Chandra X-ray Observatory to detect the afterglow of the merger of two neutron stars, GW170817, the first detection of X-rays from a gravitational wave source. [8] [9] Follow-up observations of the merger remnant by Haggard's group in 2017 showed the remnant grew brighter, rather than dimming, as expected. [10] [11] The remnant finally began to fade in X-ray observations taken in 2018, 260 days after the merger. [12]

She is currently a member of the Canadian Joint Committee on Space Astronomy, the Event Horizon Telescope Multiwavelength Coordination Team and the Thirty Meter Telescope International Science Development Team. [4] Haggard had also served on the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Governance Task Force, was the editor of the AASWOMEN Newsletter and was elected a member of the AAS High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) Executive Committee. [3]

Awards and recognition

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar (2017–19) [6]

Kavli Frontiers Fellow (2014–2016) [13]

CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow (2010–2014) [14]

Personal life

Haggard resides in Montreal with her husband Nicolas Benjamin Cowan, an astronomer and planetary scientist. They have one son. [2]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neutron star</span> Collapsed core of a massive star

A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star. It results from the supernova explosion of a massive star—combined with gravitational collapse—that compresses the core past white dwarf star density to that of atomic nuclei. Except for black holes, neutron stars are the smallest and densest known class of stellar objects. They have a radius on the order of 10 kilometers (6 mi) and a mass of about 1.4 M☉. Stars that collapse into neutron stars have a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses (M☉), or possibly more for those that are especially rich in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of gravitational physics and relativity</span>

The following is a timeline of gravitational physics and general relativity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stellar black hole</span> Black hole formed by a collapsed star

A stellar black hole is a black hole formed by the gravitational collapse of a star. They have masses ranging from about 5 to several tens of solar masses. They are the remnants of supernova explosions, which may be observed as a type of gamma ray burst. These black holes are also referred to as collapsars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sagittarius A*</span> Supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way

Sagittarius A*, abbreviated as Sgr A*, is the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. Viewed from Earth, it is located near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius, about 5.6° south of the ecliptic, visually close to the Butterfly Cluster (M6) and Lambda Scorpii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3C 58</span> Supernova remnant

3C 58 or 3C58 is a pulsar and supernova remnant within the Milky Way. The object is listed as No. 58 in the Third Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources.

The Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit is an upper bound to the mass of cold, non-rotating neutron stars, analogous to the Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarf stars. Stars more massive than the TOV limit collapse into a black hole. The original calculation in 1939, which neglected complications such as nuclear forces between neutrons, placed this limit at approximately 0.7 solar masses (M☉). Later, more refined analyses have resulted in larger values.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neutron star merger</span> Type of stellar collision

A neutron star merger is the stellar collision of neutron stars. When two neutron stars fall into mutual orbit, they gradually spiral inward due to gravitational radiation. When they finally meet, their merger leads to the formation of either a more massive neutron star, or—if the mass of the remnant exceeds the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit—a black hole. The merger can create a magnetic field that is trillions of times stronger than that of Earth in a matter of one or two milliseconds. These events are believed to create short gamma-ray bursts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilonova</span> Neutron star merger

A kilonova is a transient astronomical event that occurs in a compact binary system when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole merge. These mergers are thought to produce gamma-ray bursts and emit bright electromagnetic radiation, called "kilonovae", due to the radioactive decay of heavy r-process nuclei that are produced and ejected fairly isotropically during the merger process. The measured high sphericity of the kilonova AT2017gfo at early epochs was deduced from the blackbody nature of its spectrum.

Multi-messenger astronomy is the coordinated observation and interpretation of multiple signals received from the same astronomical event. Many types of cosmological events involve complex interactions between a variety of astrophysical processes, each of which may independently emit signals of a characteristic "messenger" type: electromagnetic radiation, gravitational waves, neutrinos, and cosmic rays. When received on Earth, identifying that disparate observations were generated by the same source can allow for improved reconstruction or a better understanding of the event, and reveals more information about the source.

James Michael Lattimer is a nuclear astrophysicist who works on the dense nuclear matter equation of state and neutron stars. He is currently a distinguished professor at Stony Brook University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GW170817</span> Gravitational-wave signal detected in 2017

GW170817 was a gravitational wave (GW) signal observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors on 17 August 2017, originating from the shell elliptical galaxy NGC 4993, about 140 million light years away. The signal was produced by the last moments of the inspiral process of a binary pair of neutron stars, ending with their merger. It was the first GW observation to be confirmed by non-gravitational means. Unlike the five previous GW detections—which were of merging black holes and thus not expected to produce a detectable electromagnetic signal—the aftermath of this merger was seen across the electromagnetic spectrum by 70 observatories on 7 continents and in space, marking a significant breakthrough for multi-messenger astronomy. The discovery and subsequent observations of GW170817 were given the Breakthrough of the Year award for 2017 by the journal Science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4993</span> Galaxy in the constellation of Hydra

NGC 4993 is a lenticular galaxy located about 140 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. It was discovered on 26 March 1789 by William Herschel and is a member of the NGC 4993 Group.

The small planet radius gap is an observed scarcity of planets with radii between 1.5 and 2 times Earth's radius, likely due to photoevaporation-driven mass loss. A bimodality in the Kepler exoplanet population was first observed in 2011 and attributed to the absence of significant gas atmospheres on close-in, low-mass planets. This feature was noted as possibly confirming an emerging hypothesis that photoevaporation could drive atmospheric mass loss This would lead to a population of bare, rocky cores with smaller radii at small separations from their parent stars, and planets with thick hydrogen- and helium-dominated envelopes with larger radii at larger separations. The bimodality in the distribution was confirmed with higher-precision data in the California-Kepler Survey in 2017, which was shown to match the predictions of the photoevaporative mass-loss hypothesis later that year.

3XMM J004232.1+411314 is a low-mass X-ray binary hosted in the galaxy M31. It is the most luminous source of hard X-rays in the Andromeda Galaxy. It is also the most luminous source known that shows dips in the X-ray light curve. The compact object in this system has been unambiguously identified as a neutron star with a spin period of 3 seconds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zadko Observatory</span> Observatory

Zadko Observatory is an astronomical observatory located within the Wallingup Plain in the Gingin shire, Western Australia. It is owned and operated by the University of Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K2-18</span> Red dwarf star in the constellation Leo

K2-18, also known as EPIC 201912552, is a red dwarf star with two planetary companions located 124 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Leo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PSR J0740+6620</span> Neutron star

PSR J0740+6620 is a neutron star in a binary system with a white dwarf, located 4,600 light years away in the Milky Way galaxy. It was discovered in 2019, by astronomers using the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, U.S., and confirmed as a rapidly rotating millisecond pulsar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teacup galaxy</span> Low redshift quasar in the constellation Boötes

The Teacup galaxy, also known as the Teacup AGN or SDSS J1430+1339 is a low redshift type 2 quasar, showing an extended loop of ionized gas resembling a handle of a teacup, which was discovered by volunteers of the Galaxy Zoo project and labeled as a Voorwerpje.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fast blue optical transient</span> Astronomical observation

In astronomy, a fast blue optical transient (FBOT), or more specifically, luminous fast blue optical transient (LFBOT), is an explosive transient event similar to supernovae and gamma-ray bursts with high optical luminosity, rapid evolution, and predominantly blue emission. The origins of such explosions are currently unclear, with events occurring at not more than 0.1% of the typical core-collapse supernova rate. This class of transients initially emerged from large sky surveys at cosmological distances, yet in recent years a small number have been discovered in the local Universe, most notably AT 2018cow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OGLE-2011-BLG-0462</span>

OGLE-2011-BLG-0462, also known as MOA-2011-BLG-191, is a stellar-mass black hole isolated in interstellar space. OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 lies at a distance of 1,720 parsecs in the direction of the galactic bulge in the constellation Sagittarius. The black hole has a mass of about 6.03 M☉. OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 is the first truly isolated black hole which has been confirmed.

References

  1. ↑ "Bio CIFAR".
  2. 1 2 Name, Your. "Daryl Haggard – McGill University – Personal". www.physics.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Haggard, Daryl (2016-05-30). "Women In Astronomy: Meet your CSWA committee: Daryl Haggard". Women In Astronomy. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  4. 1 2 Name, Your. "Daryl Haggard – McGill University – Bio". www.physics.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  5. ↑ "McGill launches new Space Institute". Montreal Gazette. 2015-10-28. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  6. 1 2 "Bio – Daryl Haggard". CIFAR. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  7. ↑ "Milky Way's Monster Black Hole Belches Big, But Why?". Space.com. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  8. ↑ "Chandra Makes First Detection of X-rays from a Gravitational Wave Source: Interview with Chandra Scientist Daryl Haggard | ChandraBlog | Fresh Chandra News". chandra.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  9. ↑ Haggard, Daryl; Nynka, Melania; Ruan, John J.; Kalogera, Vicky; Cenko, S. Bradley; Evans, Phil; Kennea, Jamie A. (2017-10-16). "A Deep Chandra X-Ray Study of Neutron Star Coalescence GW170817". The Astrophysical Journal. 848 (2): L25. arXiv: 1710.05852 . Bibcode:2017ApJ...848L..25H. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa8ede . ISSN   2041-8213. S2CID   55424196.
  10. ↑ "Here's Something Strange, the Afterglow From Last Year's Kilonova is Continuing to Brighten – Universe Today". Universe Today. 2018-01-22. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  11. ↑ Ruan, John J.; Nynka, Melania; Haggard, Daryl; Kalogera, Vicky; Evans, Phil (2018). "Brightening X-Ray Emission from GW170817/GRB 170817A: Further Evidence for an Outflow". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 853 (1): L4. arXiv: 1712.02809 . Bibcode:2018ApJ...853L...4R. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aaa4f3 . ISSN   2041-8205. S2CID   55664304.
  12. ↑ Nynka, Melania; Ruan, John J.; Haggard, Daryl; Evans, Phil A. (2018-07-31). "Fading of the X-Ray Afterglow of Neutron Star Merger GW170817/GRB 170817A at 260 Days". The Astrophysical Journal. 862 (2): L19. arXiv: 1805.04093 . Bibcode:2018ApJ...862L..19N. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aad32d . ISSN   2041-8213. S2CID   54700363.
  13. ↑ "2015 Kavli Fellows – News Release". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  14. ↑ "Daryl Haggard – Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA)". ciera.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
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