About Me

I am an Astronomy Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Michigan. As part of Sally Oey's group Feedback Activity in Nearby Galaxies, I research the escape of ionizing radiation from starbursts, and its connection to stellar feedback. I use HST, Magellan, and Gemini spectroscopy of local starbursts to understand what galaxy properties and feedback processes enable Lyman continuum escape, and are thus tied to cosmic reionization.

I am also interested in low-mass star formation and circumstellar disks, as well as disk evolution at the substellar boundary.

Upcoming Projects 2024

Radiation-Driven Feedback and LyC Escape in Low-z Lyman Continuum Survey Green Peas

Green Peas (GPs) are the largest class of local Lyman continuum (LyC) emitters, and therefore hold clues to cosmic reionization. Many GPs show broad emission-line wings in nebular and recombination lines, extending to 500 - 3000 km/s. The origin of this extremely fast gas is unknown, but is likely a signature of stellar feedback. In Komarova et al. 2021, we propose a model to explain such broad wings in the nearby Mrk 71 with a clumpy, LyC-driven superwind. As Lyman photons may escape through the inter-clump regions in such a scenario, this may be the LyC escape mechanism at play in most extreme Green Peas.

We test this hypothesis by analyzing the kinematics of ~30 Green Peas from the Low-z Lyman Continuum Survey (Flury et al. 2022a,b), all of which show broad wings and have been observed in LyC (bottom figure). First, we compare the galaxy radiation properties, such as ionization parameter, luminosity, and star formation rate, to the broad wing properties, to see if the broad wings are radiation-driven. We then relate the broad wing parameters to the LyC properties of the GPs, to test if radiation feedback promotes LyC escape.