| Chris Churchill |
| Associate Professor |
| Office: | 105 Astronomy |
| Phone: | (575)646-1913 |
| Fax: | (575)646-1602 |
| |
| E-mail: | cwc |
| (append "@nmsu.edu") |
| |
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| Ph.D. | University of California, Santa Cruz, | 1997 |
| B.S. | California Polytechnic State University, | 1989 |
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Dr. Churchill heads the NMSU Quasar Absorption Line Group. This
research group studies galaxy evolution in the inverse using the
technique of quasar absorption lines. The sightline along which light
travels to Earth from extremely distant, highly luminous quasars
serves as a core sample through the universe of both time and space.
Take a spectrum of the quasar and coded in the light are the
fingerprint patterns of the kinematic, ionization, and chemical
conditions of extended gaseous halos surrounding intervening galaxies.
We use the Keck, Subaru, and Very Large Telescopes to obtain the high
resolution spectra of the quasars. We decode the complex and
beautiful patterns of missing light (absorption lines) in these
spectra and then go out and find the galaxies hosting the absorbing
gas. We then study the morphology and sky orientations of these
galaxies out to redshifts of 0.5-1.0 in detail with the Hubble Space
Telescope. We are testing to see if the large extended halos around
galaxies, which can be 10 times larger than the stellar disks, are
dynamically coupled to the galaxies or are an interface with the
cosmic web structures of the intergalactic medium.
Research (links to Research Page)
Dr. Churchill specializes in observational spectroscopic techniques
and analysis, including long slit and echelle formats. For an
overview of Dr. Churchill's Science see Introduction to QSO Absorption Lines in
Simulations
Current Graduate Students
3. Ms. Elizabeth Klimek (5th year)
2. Ms. Nikki Nielsen (3rd year)
1. Mr. Nigel Mathes (1st year)
Graduated Students, Ph.D.
4. Dr. Jessica Evans (5/2011)
Postdoctoral Researcher, NMSU
3. Dr. Glenn Kacprzak (7/2008)
Australian Research Council Super Science Fellow, Swinburne
2. Dr. Brandon Lawton (7/2008)
Research Astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute
1. Dr. Don Lubowich (7/2006)
Associate Professor, University of Hofstra
Graduated Students, M.S.
3. Mr. Roberto Avila (8/2009) Data Analyst, Instrument Division(INS), Space Telescope Science Institute
2. Ms. Allison (Widhalm) Campbell (7/2008) Data Analysis Specialist at Gemini Observatory, Chile
1. Ms. Sarah Giandoni (5/2005) Instrument Data Specialist, NASA @ Whitesands
Teaching
(links to all courses taught at NMSU)
Dr. Churchill has taught many undergraduate college level courses
related to Astronomy and Physics, including 'Astrophotography",
"Introduction to Astronomy", "Life in the Universe", "Into the Final
Frontier" (a course on with focus on the Moon Race), and "Space
Colonization". He has also taugh the graduate courses "Quasar
Absorption Lines", "Interstellar Medium", and "Stellar Spectroscopy"
(which is partially a "Stellar Atmospheres" course). Dr. Churchill is
currently working hard to complete a graduate level text book entitled
Absorption
Line Spectroscopy of Cosmological Sources to be published in
the Astrophysics Series of Cambridge University Press. His favorite
topics in the class room are "Life in the Universe" and "Human Space
Flight".
Publications (links to all abstracts on NASA/ADS)
My Local Bibliography Page
Selected Publications:
The HI Mass Density in Galactc Halos, Winds, and Cold Accretion as Traced by MgII Absorption
Kacprzak, G.G., & Churchill, C.W. 2011, ApJ, 743, L34
Morphological Properties of z~0.5 Absorption-selected Galaxies: The Role of Inclination
Kacprzak, G.G., Churchill, C.W., Evans, J.L., Murphy, M.T., & Steidel, C.C. 2011, MNRAS, 416, 3118
Halo Gas and Galaxy Disk Kinematics Derived from Observations and LCDM
Simulations of MgII Absorption Selected Galaxies at Intermediate
Redshift
Kacprzak G. G., Churchill, Ceverino, D., Steidel, C. C., Klypin, A., & Murphy, M. T. 2010, ApJ, 711, 533
Diffuse Interstellar Bands in Seven Intermediate Redshift Damped Ly-alpha Absorbers
Lawton, B., Churchill, C.W., York, B.A., Ellison, S.L., Snow, T.P., Johnson, R.A., Ryan, S.G., & Benn, C.R. 2008, AJ, 136, 994
On the Heterogeneity of Metal-Line and Ly-Alpha Absorption in Galaxy "Halos" at z~0.7
Churchill, C. W., Kacprzak, G. G., Steidel, C. C., & Evans, J. L. 2007, ApJ, 661, 714
MgII Absorption through
Intermediate Redshift Galaxies
Churchill, C.W., Kacprzak,
G.G., & Steidel, C.C. 2005, Invited Talk, in Probing Galaxies through Quasar
Absorption Lines, IAU 199
