Space Astrophysics Laboratory

Our laboratory is engaged in an experimental and observation program to image emission from the intergalactic medium (IGM), the location of most of the baryons in the Universe. Ultimately, our goal is to understand how gas from the IGM flows into the halos of galaxies, the "Circum-Galactic Medium" [CGM], and how it flows out of galaxies back into the CGM and IGM. The cosmic evolution of galaxies is driven by the flow of gas into and out of them. Our long-term goals are (1)  to understand the history of cosmic gas accretion into galaxies; (2) the feedback of energy, gas, and heavy elements into the IGM from galactic scale and black hole winds; (3) to locate galaxies withiin the baryonic cosmic web; and (4) using these observations combined with numerical simulations, to assemble a predictive theory for baryonic structure formation.

We are developing new instruments that are designed to image the very low surface brightness emission from the IGM and CGM, "Dim Matter". These instruments include the Palomar Cosmic Web Imager, the Keck Cosmic Web Imager and its red arm the Keck Cosmic Reionization Mapper, and the FIREBALL-2 and HALO balloon and explorer. Using these instruments we will be able to detect and map CGM and IGM emission from the epoch of Reionization (z=8) to the local Universe (z=0). For the space UV, we need to develop new, high efficiency photon counting detectors and wide field imaging spectrometers to enable detecting the local cosmic web in emission.

We are developing techniques for interpreting the data from these instruments, and observational techniques to unravel the star formation history in galaxies. One of our principal goals is to relate the star formation history of galaxies with the properties of their halos (CGM). 

Recent Publications

• Zeren Lin, Christopher Martin, Mateusz Matuszewski, Don Neill,Keri Hoadley, and Rosalie McGurk, Revealing the Kinematically Complex CGM of J0910b: Filamentary Inflow and Counter-Rotating Gas Surrounding a Low-Mass Galaxy}, Ap.J., submitted

• Martin, D. Christopher, et al., 2023. Extensive Lya emission correlated with cosmic structure,  Nature Astronomy,  7, 1390. link

• Nielsen, N., et al., 2024. Revealing the disk-circumgalactic medium transition with emission mapping, Nature Astronomy, 8, 1602. link

• Li, Jessica S. et al., 2023.  Circumgalactic Lya Nebulae In Overdense Quasar Pair Regions Observed With The Palomar Cosmic Web Imager, Ap.J., 952, 137. link

• Hoadley, K., Martin, D.C., Metzger, B., Seibert, M. 2020, A blue ring nebula from a stellar merger several thousand years ago, Nature, 587, 387.

• O'Sullivan, D., Martin, D. C., Matuszewski, M. et al. 2020, The FLASHES Survey I: Integral Field Spectroscopy of the CGM around 48 z=2.3−3.1 QSOs, Ap.J., 894, 3. link

• Martin, D. C., O’Sullivan, D., Matuszewski, M., et al., 2019. Multi-Filament Inflows Fuel Young Star Forming Galaxies, Nature Astronomy, 3, 822. link

• Cai, Z., Hamden, E., Matuszewski, M., Prochaska, J. X., Li, Q., Cantalupo, S., Arrigoni Battaia, F., Martin, C., Neill, J. D., O’Sullivan, D., Wang, R., Moore, A., & Morrissey, P., 2018. Keck/Palomar Cosmic Web Imagers Reveal an Enormous Lyα Nebula in an Extremely Overdense Quasi-stellar Object Pair Field at z = 2.45, Ap.J.L., 861, L3. link

• Darvish, B., Scoville, N. Z., Martin, C., Mobasher, B., Diaz-Santos, T., & Shen, L., 2018. Similar Scaling Relations for the Gas Content of Galaxies Across Environments to z ∼ 3.5, Ap.J., 860, 111. link

• Morrissey, P., Matuszewski, M., Martin, D. C., et al., 2018. The Keck Cosmic Web Imager, Ap.J., 864, 93. link

• Darvish, B., Martin, D. C., Goncalves, T., Mobasher, B., Scoville, N. Z. and Sobral, D., 2018. Quench- ing or Bursting: The Role of Stellar Mass, Environment, and Specific Star Formation Rate to z∼1, Ap.J., 853, 155. link

• Martin, D. C., Gonc ̧alves, T. S., Darvish, B., Seibert, M., Schiminovich, D., 2017. Quenching or Bursting: Star Formation Acceleration–A New Methodology for Tracing Galaxy Evolution, Ap.J., 842, 20. link

• Nikzad, S., Jewell, A. D., Hoenk, M. E., et al. 2017 High Efficiency UV/Optical/NIR Detectors for Large Aperture Telescopes and UV Explorer Missions: Development of and Field Observations with Delta-doped Arrays’, Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 3, 036002 link

• Martin, D. C., Matuszewski, M., Morrissey, P., et al. 2016, A Newly Forming Cold Flow Protogalactic Disk, a Signature of Cold Accretion from the Cosmic Web, Ap.J.L., 824, L5. link

• Martin, D. C., Matuszewski, M., Morrissey, P., Moore, A., Cantalupo, S., Prochaska, J. X., Chang, D. 2015, A Giant Protogalactic Disk Linked to the Cosmic Web, Nature, 524, 192. link

• Hamden, E.~T., Jewell, A.~D., Shapiro, C.~A., et al. 2016, Charge-coupled devices detectors with high quantum efficiency at UV wavelengths, Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 2, 036003 link

People

Drew Miles -- Assistant Research Professor

Vincent Picouet -- Postdoctoral Scholar

Zeren Lin -- Graduate Research Assistant

Xihan Deng -- Graduate Research Assistant

Nic Prusinki -- Graduate Research Assistant

Christopher Martin -- Professor of Physics

Matt Matuszewski -- Senior Staff Scientist

Teaching

Ay 127 -- Cosmology and Galaxy Evolution

Ay 122a -- Observations and Instrumentation

Ph 1bc(Prac) -- Introduction to Electricity and Magnetism

Ph 2a -- Waves and Radiation

Ph 2b -- Introduction to Quantum Mechanics

Curriculum Vitae

Mar 2025 CV

Image credit: Illustris TNG Collaboration