Welcome! I am a YCAA Fellow at Yale University, where I use multiwavelength data to find dust obscured supermassive black holes in distant galaxies. I specifically focus on identifying mid-IR luminous active galactic nuclei (AGN) using spectroscopy, which is more sensitive than broadband photometry. By quantifying AGN emission with spectroscopy, I can correlate other signatures, such as dust temperature, CO emission, X-ray luminosity, and morphology. I have developed new techniques to quantify AGN IR luminosity using only mid-IR observations, which will be particularly applicable to JWST observations! I am particularly interested in the AGN-host galaxy connection. By utilizing mid-IR spectroscopic observations of dusty star forming galaxies, I find that accreting black holes are prevalent in main sequence galaxies at z=1-2, and I call this population "composites". With the launch of JWST, I hope to build a statistically complete sample of composites to determine how the interplay of AGN feedback and star formation drives galaxy evolution.
I am a member of the CANDELS, KINGFISH, and GOODS-Herschel collaborations. The majority of my research has been focused on the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS), or as I like to say, my Field of Dreams. I am passionate about infrared astronomy, galaxy evolution, and finding hidden AGN!
My contact details:
Allison Kirpatrick
Department of Physics
Yale University
PO Box 208120
New Haven, CT 06520
Office: 56 Hillhouse Avenue, Rm 303
Email: allison.kirkpatrick AT yale.edu
Special thanks to Katie Grasha for her help in setting up my webpage.
