Chris Lovell
Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth.
Hello! I’m a computational astrophysicist studying how galaxies form and evolve.
My research seeks to understand the various physical processes that shape galaxies, including their cosmological environment, which leads to the diversity of the galaxy population we observe. A particular focus of my research has been the formation of the earliest galaxies, in the first billion years of the Universe’s history, now being probed in exquisite detail by the James Webb Space Telescope.
To do this I use numerical simulations to model these complex physical processes. Much of my work has focussed on modelling the electromagnetic emission from galaxies, allowing us to directly compare with the observed galaxy populations. I also employ deep learning techniques to accelerate these simulations, and provide novel insights. Recently I have been exploring simulation based inference approaches, which allow us to use our sophisticated simulations to place direct constraints on key astrophysical parameters.
I am a member of the FLARES, Euclid, Learning the Universe and CAMELS collaborations. Please check out my projects page for a flavour of my current work.