Undergraduate Research & Scholarships

Amelia Cahill

Characterizing the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Quasar Sample

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is able to find and measure many more quasars than its predecessor programs such as Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Not only can DESI look at more quasars, it can observe quasars much further away (at higher redshift) than we ever could before. My goal this summer, which is a culmination of 3 semesters of work so far, is to determine a representative “average” DESI quasar and examine its properties. This project aims to increase our knowledge of the “Lyman-alpha forest” (a region of a quasar’s spectrum that is mostly absorbed by neutral Hydrogen in the universe), improve simulated models of quasars and other data pipelines, and perhaps even uncover emission lines we have yet to observe in this region.

Message To Sponsor

I cannot thank my donor enough for supporting my summer research! Without this grant, I would not be able to take on this project, which I have spent three semesters and hundreds of hours working on. It is possible my project could have gone unfinished if not for this grant. Before I began my work, I knew I loved learning about the universe, but the “what” and “how” was a mystery. This project has allowed me to discover the area of Astrophysics I want to go into, developed a deep love of research and black holes, and fostered connections in the community of researchers at LBNL who teach me something new every day. It means more than anything that I can contribute to our understanding of the natural world, in large part because of your generous donation. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!