About
Galaxy Cluster Dynamics and Cosmology
I work with Professor Christopher Miller on the dynamics of galaxy clusters—the largest gravitationally bound structures in the universe. These systems are exceptional laboratories for studying gravity on cosmological scales and probing the nature of dark matter and cosmic expansion.
Galaxy clusters contain hundreds to thousands of galaxies moving through deep gravitational potential wells dominated by dark matter. At the same time, these systems span megaparsec scales where cosmic expansion becomes dynamically important. The competition between gravitational attraction and outward cosmic acceleration determines whether galaxies remain bound or escape from clusters. This balance is encoded in the escape velocity profile—the maximum velocity boundary in the cluster's radius-velocity phase space.
My research develops methods to measure cluster masses from these escape velocity profiles and uses them to test cosmological models. Because escape velocities depend directly on both the gravitational potential and cosmological parameters (particularly the expansion rate H(z) and deceleration parameter q(z)), they provide a unique dynamical probe of late-universe cosmology. By comparing escape velocity masses with independent measurements from weak gravitational lensing, I enable constraints on cosmic expansion that are completely independent of traditional distance-based methods. My work addresses fundamental questions about structure formation, dark matter, and whether recent hints of cosmic deceleration from surveys like DESI are supported by dynamical evidence.
