Previous Article
Next Article
Table of Contents

Who's Who Among the Kitt Peak Post-docs (1Dec93)
(from KPNO, NOAO Newsletter No. 36, 1 December 1993)

KPNO has a lively post-doctoral research program as evidenced by the
accompanying photograph of the post-doctoral fellows resident at KPNO
for the 1993-1994 academic year. Each year KPNO is typically able to
offer one or two post-doctoral appointments supported directly by NOAO
funds. We are also pleased to be able to host Hubble fellows as well as
a number of other researchers supported by external grants.  This fall
we are pleased to welcome NOAO post-doc Stephane Courteau to the
program.  Courteau arrived in October from Cornell University, where he
held an NSERC post-doctoral fellowship. With the start of a new year we
thought that this would be a good time to summarize the research
activities of all of our post-docs.

                         [Figure not included]

These are the post-doctoral fellows resident at KPNO for the 1993-1994
academic year. Moving left to right, they are Sylvain Veilleux,
Heather Morrison, Beatrice Muller, Stephane Courteau, Edward Ajhar,
Ata Sarajedini, Nalin Samarasinha, Michael Pierce, and Michael Wise.
(Michael Corbin not pictured.)

Edward Ajhar is supported by the HST Wide Field/Planetary Camera team
through KPNO staff member Tod Lauer. Ajhar is presently studying the
cores of giant elliptical galaxies from HST WFPC images. Ajhar with
other collaborators is using surface brightness fluctuation distances
to early-type galaxies to determine the nearby large-scale flow, as
well as developing surface brightness fluctuations as a probe of
stellar populations. Ajhar also studies globular cluster systems of
elliptical galaxies to understand the origin of both systems.

Michael Corbin is supported by the HST Archive program. He is working
with KPNO staff member Todd Boroson on a project of combining HST FOS
and IUE spectra of low-redshift QSOs with ground-based optical spectra.
The goal is to compare ultraviolet and optical emission lines in a
sample of QSOs which cover a wide range in luminosity and radio
properties. These comparisons should provide the basis for detailed
models of the objects' emission line regions.  In collaboration with
others at Steward Observatory, Corbin is also undertaking a program of
narrow-band imaging of high-redshift QSOs discovered in the Large Bright
Quasar Survey.

NOAO post-doctoral fellow Stephane Courteau works on mapping the
distribution of matter in the universe. In his thesis at Lick
Observatory, he showed that our extragalactic neighborhood extending
out to ~75 Mpc moves in bulk at ~350 km/s in the direction of, but
extending beyond, the southern Great Attractor, in reasonable agreement
with predictions from mixed dark matter models. His work also involves
mass modeling and the analysis of dust extinction in disk galaxies, as
well as observational tests for the evolution of galaxies at large
look-back time.

Hubble fellow Heather Morrison works on the structure of the Milky Way
and other galaxies, with particular emphasis on galaxy formation and
evolution, using the oldest stellar populations as tracers of the early
history of galaxies. Her current research includes collaborative
investigations into the relationship between the galactic bulge and
halo and a study of thick disks in other galaxies using ultra-deep CCD
surface photometry.

Beatrice Muller is supported by the Galileo imaging team through KPNO
staff member Mike Belton, and is presently working on the high
resolution images of Ida obtained by Galileo. Muller also works on
physical properties of cometary nuclei, Near-Earth-asteroids, and the
link between comets and asteroids.

NOAO post-doctoral fellow Michael Pierce works on determining
extragalactic distances and the Hubble Constant. The approach taken by
Pierce and his collaborators emphasizes the intercomparison and testing
of various techniques as a means of establishing the level of
confidence in the extragalactic distance scale. His recent work has
concentrated on the Tully-Fisher method and those involving
supernovae. Pierce is also using high resolution imaging techniques to
investigate the role of mergers in galaxies at high red-shift.

NASA planetary science post-doctoral fellow Nalin Samarasinha works on
modeling inhomogeneities in cometary comae (such as jets) to understand
their chemical composition and origin. His work on cometary rotational
states includes understanding temporal evolution of rotational states
under sublimation-induced torques as well as the inter-relationship
between the rotation and the orbital dynamics.

NOAO post-doctoral fellow Ata Sarajedini is conducting research on
stellar populations of the Galactic halo and disk. He has worked on the
age range among the Galactic globular and open clusters, and is
currently investigating blue straggler stars in open and globular
clusters. He is also trying to improve the methods by which basic
cluster properties like metal abundance and reddening are determined.

Hubble fellow Sylvain Veilleux works on the structure, dynamics, and
origin of active galactic nuclei (AGN). His current research includes
exploring the effects of the AGN on the host galaxy and the transport
of material within the body of the host galaxy down to the accretion
disk scale.  Veilleux and his collaborators are also studying luminous
infrared galaxies in an attempt to determine the origin of nuclear
activity in galaxies and searching for evolutionary links between
active and starburst galaxies.

NOAO post-doctoral fellow Michael Wise is conducting theoretical
studies of the intracluster medium in clusters of galaxies and the
interstellar medium in early-type galaxies.  He is presently developing
detailed models for the X-ray spectra of these objects in an effort to
determine the ultimate fate of the large amounts cooling gas implied by
X-ray observations. In support of this program, Wise is using ROSAT
X-ray imaging and ASCA X-ray spectroscopy data to study the
environments in these objects.  Wise is also pursuing optical
investigations on polarized light in clusters and the effects of dust
on broad-band, optical color gradients in elliptical galaxies.

Tod Lauer

Previous Article
Next Article
Table of Contents