I am interested in studying the formation, evolution, and dynamics of galaxies and the groups and clusters in which they reside. I am especially interested in the role of interactions and mergers on galactic evolution, and understanding groups and clusters of galaxies as evolving, dynamic systems.

My thesis research has focused in studying intracluster light (ICL) in galaxy clusters. ICL is composed of stars which have been tidally stripped from their parent galaxies and form a diffuse, low-surface brightness background which permeates the cluster. Because ICL is formed via tidal interactions throughout the hierarchical accretion history of the cluster, it serves as the cluster's "fossil record", preserving the interaction histories of galaxies, and shedding light on the dynamical history of the cluster itself.

I have been working on two major projects which study ICL. First, we have used N-body simulations of the evolution of galaxy clusters in order to study the dynamics which generate the ICL over cosmological timescales. Additionally, I have been heavily involved in the CWRU-based deep imaging survey of the Virgo cluster using the Burrell-Schmidt telescope, in order to study the intracluster light in Virgo.

ICL Simulations

Virgo ICL Observations

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Cats

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Cats

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Spaghetti

Burrell Schmidt Image Gallery

Plotting with SuperMongo

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Created by Craig Rudick, 2005.
Last modified 01/19/10.