My research focuses on tracing the formation, growth, and quenching of galaxies in the early universe through the lens of the baryon cycle. I use JWST spectroscopy, photometry, SED modeling, and gravitational lensing, and I am a member of the LEGGOS survey. To date, I have reconstructed star formation histories to interpret distinct quenching pathways as imprints of different gas-regulation histories, measured neutral gas outflows to trace the physical movement of baryons, and, more recently, used spatially resolved spectroscopy to study the spatial manifestation of these processes. Going forward, I aim to understand under what physical conditions different gas-regulation mechanisms dominate in individual galaxies, and how these differences give rise to distinct evolutionary pathways.
Neutral Gas Outflows in High-Redshift Quenching Galaxies
Read more →- Investigated how baryon cycling continues during and after quenching by tracing neutral gas outflows in massive high-redshift galaxies.
- Constructed a JWST galaxy sample at 2 < z < 5, using sSFR to separate quiescent, intermediate, and star-forming populations, and Prospector SED fitting to derive physical parameters.
- Subtracted stellar continua and stacked residual spectra to statistically enhance Na I D absorption as a tracer of neutral gas flows.
- Measured physical properties of stacked outflow signature to test whether outflows are linked to quenching beyond star-formation-driven feedback.
Spatially Resolved Neutral Gas Outflows in Lensed Galaxies
Read more →- Extended population-level outflow studies to ask how quenching and baryon cycling operate within individual galaxy substructures.
- Analyzing JWST/NIRSpec observations of a gravitationally lensed high-redshift galaxy, SGAS2111, to extract spatially resolved clump-level spectra.
- Measuring absorption features such as Na I D and Fe II to constrain neutral and low-ionization gas flows across star-forming and quenching regions, and comparing these signatures with local clump properties such as star-formation activity, continuum shape, and evolutionary state.
- Analysis is ongoing, with the current focus on robust spectral extraction, line measurement, and interpretation rather than finalized results.
Diversity of Quenching Pathways
Read more →- Studied why early massive galaxies stopped forming stars using JWST/NIRSpec PRISM spectra of quiescent candidates at 2 ≤ z < 6.
- Modeled star formation histories with Prospector by jointly fitting spectra and photometry.
- Found recently formed/recently quenched galaxies to be higher-redshift, burstier, and lower-mass than older quiescent remnants.
- Found early formed/recently quenched galaxies to be the most massive and metal-rich, suggesting delayed quenching after extended baryon processing.
Triaxial Modeling of Intracluster Gas with X-ray and SZ Observations
Read more →- Modeled hot intracluster gas in galaxy clusters by combining X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) observables within a CLUMP-3D-inspired framework, implementing triaxial ellipsoidal projection models to describe 3D gas density and pressure distributions and their projection along the line of sight.
- Developed interactive visualization tools to explore how cluster geometry and viewing angle affect projected gas observables.
- Performed Bayesian parameter inference with MCMC (comparing sampling behavior between emcee and redemcee) to fit and evaluate a 13-parameter cluster gas model, using posterior exploration to assess parameter degeneracies and model constraints.