Professor Emma Ryan-Weber
- School of Science
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
- Department of Physics and Astronomy
- AR317 Hawthorn campus
Biography
Professor Emma Ryan-Weber is an astrophysicist, she leads the intergalactic medium research group at Swinburne. The science focuses on detecting atomic elements in the early, distant Universe. Ryan-Weber is the node leader for ARC CoE ASTRO 3D at Swinburne.
Ryan-Weber and her team conduct this research using near-infrared spectroscopy towards high redshift quasars on the world's largest telescopes including Keck and the VLT. The team also work on high redshift galaxies and examine their influence on reionization, including their escaping fraction of ionizing radiation.
Ryan-Weber’s doctoral research focused on HI in the local universe – a field where she continues an active interest.
Research interests
Astronomy; Astrophysics; Physics; Intergalactic Medium; Reionization; Keck
PhD candidate and honours supervision
Higher degrees by research
Accredited to supervise Masters & Doctoral students as Principal Supervisor.
PhD topics and outlines
Probing chemical elements across cosmic time: Looking back to a billion year after the Big Bang, Astronomers have now observed chemical elements, such as magnesium and carbon in the halos of galaxies. The PhD will compare Magnesium and Carbon absorption line features to establish whether an ionization phase change occurs in gas around galaxies at redshift 5.7, corresponding to the end of the Epoch of Reionisation.
Honours
Available to supervise honours students.
Honours topics and outlines
Highly ionizing galaxies at redshift 3 – do they have different colours?: The aim of this honours project is to measure the colour of galaxies at redshift 3 and compare galaxies selected in three different ways (Lyman-break, Lyman-continuum and Lyman-alpha emission). The project will involve examining existing data from the Keck telescope multi-object spectrograph MOSFIRE.
Fields of Research
- Cosmology And Extragalactic Astronomy - 510103
Publications
Also published as: Ryan-Weber, Emma; Ryan-Weber, E.; Ryan-Weber, E. V.; Ryan-Weber, Emma V.
This publication listing is provided by Swinburne Research Bank. If you are the owner of this profile, you can update your publications using our online form.
Recent research grants awarded
- 2017: ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions *; ARC Centre of Excellence Scheme
- 2015: Reionization And Diffuse Cosmic Gas *; ARC Discovery Projects Scheme
- 2014: Mapping the Universe with the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) *; Anglo-Australian Observatory
- 2011: Mass Assembly of Galaxies In the Cosmos: the roles of stars, gas, and metals *; ARC Super Science Fellowships
- 2010: The Intergalactic Medium: from cosmic dawn to the local web *; ARC Discovery Projects Scheme
* Chief Investigator
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