Contact Information

Simulated Circumgalactic Medium

I study the circumgalacitc medium around simulated galaxies using mock quasar absorption spectra. The galaxies are cosmological zoom-in simulations using the hydroART code. I run lines of sight through the halos of the galaxies and generate mock quasar absorption spectra. These are analyzed in the same fashion as observations and are used to both verify the internal physics of the simulations and to test observational techniques.

My research is supported by a New Mexico Space Grant Consortium Graduate Research Fellowship

Code

To analyze the gaseous halos of simulated galaxies I developed a code named Mockspec. This publically avilable code generates lines-of-sight through the galaxy's CGM and generates synthetic spectra of any ion desired, emulating the instrumental effects of the most commonly used instruments. It also analyzes the spectra, calcualted the equivilent width and AOD column densities of all of the automatically detected absorption features. Additionally, it identifies which gas cells intersected by the LOS were actually responsible for the absorption features.

Publications

Direct Insights into Observational Absorption Line Analysis Methods of the Circumgalactic Medium Using Cosmological Simulations
Churchill, C. W.; Vander Vliet, J. R.; Trujillo-Gomez, S.; Kacprzak, G. G.; Klypin, A. A>

Ionization Modeling Astrophysical Gaseous Structures. I. The Optically Thin Regime
Churchill, C. W.; Klimek, E.; Medina, A.; Vander Vliet, J. R.

Conferences

July 2015: Mocking the Universe at STScI, Baltimore, MD
Poster: Using Simulations to Uncover the Bias in Absorption Line Analysis of the Baryon Cycle
Vander Vliet, J; Churchill, C. W.; Trujill-Gomez, S.; Klimek, E. S.; Klypic, A. A.

August 2014: Galaxy Workshop in Santa Cruz, CA
Talk: The Circumgalactic Medium of Dwarf Galaxies in Simulations
Vander Vliet, J; Churchill, C. W.; Trujillo, S.; Klimek, E. S.; Kacprzak, G. G.; Klypin, A. A.

June 2014: Intergalactic Matters in Heidelberg Germany
Poster: Structure of a Simulated Dwarf Galaxy's CGM
Vander Vliet, J; Churchill, C. W.; Trujillo, S.; Klimek, E. S.; Klypin, A. A.

January 2014: 223rd American Astronomical Society Meeting in Washington, DC
Poster: A Comparison of the Circumgalactic Medium of Present-Day Dwarf and Milky Way Galaxies using Absorption Line Analysis through Hydrodynamic Cosmological Simulations
Vander Vliet, J; Churchill, C. W.; Trujillo, S.; Klimek, E. S.; Klypin, A. A.

January 2013: 221st American Astronomical Society Meeting in Long Beach, CA
Talk: The Distribution of Metals in the High Redshift Circumgalactic Medium Around Milky Way Progenitors
Vander Vliet, J; Churchill, C. W.; Klimek, E. S.; Trujillo, S.; Ceverino, D.; Klypin, A. A.