Antonia Fernandez

PhD Student

Swinburne University of Technology

Biography

My main area of interest is the study of the gas around galaxies, also known as the circum-galactic medium (CGM). It is believed that the CGM plays a crucial role in galaxy evolution, so studying the CGM is fundamental to understanding galaxy evolution. The most common method to study the CGM is using QSOs as background sources. The light of the QSO gets absorbed by the CGM of foreground galaxies, creating absorption features that we can measure and analyze. My current work uses this technique to study the CGM of galaxies in group environments. I have experience using ground-based optical IFU data, along with space-based observations. My previous project also involved using gravitational lenses as background sources to further study the CGM.