Physics & Astrophysics
Explore this Section
I did my undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham, obtaining a BSc(Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics in 1994 and completed my PhD in 1999 at the University of Leicester. My PhD thesis was based on a survey of distant quasars detected with the ASCA satellite. After my PhD, I worked as a post-doctoral Research Scientist in the X-ray Astronomy group at the University of Leicester until 2002. I then worked for 5 years in the USA as a Research Scientist within the Astrophysics Division at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, near Washington DC, and at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore. I returned to the UK in April 2007, to work in the Astrophysics Group at Keele.
I am part of the Astrophysics Group at Keele and a member of the Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics (EPSAM).
My main research interest is on understanding the accretion of matter onto Super-massive Black Holes, which exist in the centres of most galaxies. These are known as Active Galactic Nuclei (or AGN for short). I study the properties of the AGN inner accretion disk, which exists close to the black hole event horizon, by using spectroscopy and timing observations from space based X-ray telescopes such as XMM-Newton, Chandra and Suzaku. I am also interested in AGN outflows and the connection between black hole and host galaxy evolution.
My other areas of interest cover a wide range of extragalactic astrophysics. These include studies of Gamma-ray bursts, their connection with supernovae and high redshift bursts, as well as ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in nearby galaxies and high redshift quasars.
Selected Publications
-
2007. Revealing the high energy emission from the obscured Seyfert galaxy MCG-5-23-16 with Suzaku. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN, vol. 59, S301-S314. link>
-
2006. Outshining the Quasars at Reionization: The X-Ray Spectrum and Light Curve of the Redshift 6.29 Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 050904. The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 637(2), L69-L72. doi>
Full Publications List show
Journal Articles
-
2009. X-Ray Spectral Variability of the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 4051 Observed with Suzaku. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN, vol. 61, S299-S316. link>
-
2008. Suzaku wide-band X-ray spectroscopy of the Seyfert 2 AGN in NGC 4945. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN, vol. 60, S251-S261. link>
-
2008. The Suzaku observation of NGC 3516: Complex absorption and the broad and narrow FeK lines. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN, vol. 60, S277-S291. link>
-
2008. Wide-band spectroscopy of the Compton thick Seyfert 2 galaxy Markarian 3 with Suzaku. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN, vol. 60, S293-S305. link>
-
2007. Precision FeK alpha and FeK beta line spectroscopy of the Seyfert 1.9 galaxy NGC 2992 with Suzaku. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN, vol. 59, S283-S299. link>
-
2007. Probing the disk-jet connection of the radio galaxy 3C 120 observed with Suzaku. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN, vol. 59(2), 279-297. link>
-
2007. Revealing the high energy emission from the obscured Seyfert galaxy MCG-5-23-16 with Suzaku. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN, vol. 59, S301-S314. link>
-
2007. Suzaku observations of the hard X-ray variability of MCG-6-30-15: the effects of strong gravity around a Kerr black hole. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN, vol. 59, S315-S325. link>
-
2007. Swift and Suzaku observations of the X-ray afterglow from the GRB 060105. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN, vol. 59, S361-S367. link>
-
2007. The X-ray observatory Suzaku. PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN, vol. 59, S1-S7. link>
-
2006. Outshining the Quasars at Reionization: The X-Ray Spectrum and Light Curve of the Redshift 6.29 Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 050904. The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 637(2), L69-L72. doi>
-
2006. XMM-Newton observation of a dust echo and X-ray flash in GRB 031203. ADVANCES IN SPACE RESEARCH, vol. 38(7), 1287-1290. doi>
-
2003. A high-velocity ionized outflow and XUV photosphere in the narrow emission line quasar PG1211+143. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 345(3), 705-713. doi>
-
2003. A Massive X-Ray Outflow from the Quasar PDS 456. The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 593(2), L65-L68. doi>
-
2002. The signature of supernova ejecta in the X-ray afterglow of the γ-ray burst 011211. Nature, vol. 416(6880), 512-515. doi>
-
1997. An X-ray survey of quasars using ASCA. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, vol. 292(2), 468-480. link>
Other
-
2012. The Suzaku View of Highly-ionized Outflows in AGN. AGN WINDS IN CHARLESTON (vol. 460, pp. 18-22). link>
-
2012. The Ultra-Fast Outflow in the Quasar PG 1211+143. AGN WINDS IN CHARLESTON (vol. 460, pp. 13-17). link>
-
2012. X-ray Evidence for Ultra-Fast Outflows in Local AGNs. AGN WINDS IN CHARLESTON (vol. 460, pp. 8-12). link>
-
2007. An overview of Suzaku results on AGN. PROGRESS OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS SUPPLEMENT (pp. 234-239). link>
-
2007. Confirming the high velocity outflow in PG1211+143. MULTICOLORED LANDSCAPE OF COMPACT OBJECTS AND THEIR EXPLOSIVE ORIGINS (vol. 924, pp. 783-788). link>
-
2007. Suzaku observation of 1H0707-495: Puzzling spectral drop around 7 keV. PROGRESS OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS SUPPLEMENT (pp. 269-273). link>
-
2007. The long Suzaku observation of MCG-6-30-15. PROGRESS OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS SUPPLEMENT (pp. 260-264). link>
-
2007. The Suzaku-Swift joint observation of the early X-ray afterglow of GRB060105. PROGRESS OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS SUPPLEMENT (pp. 3-6). link>
-
2006. New insights into ultraluminous X-ray sources from deep XMM-Newton observations. Proceedings of the X-ray Universe 2005, Vols 1 and 2 (vol. 604, pp. 427-431). link>
-
2004. XMM-Newton observations of GRB afterglows. THIRD ROME WORKSHOP ON GAMMA-RAY BURSTS IN THE AFTERGLOW ERA (vol. 312, pp. 181-184). link>
-
2001. First EPIC results on AGN from XMM-Newton. X-RAY ASTRONOMY 2000 (vol. 234, pp. 501-510). link>
-
2001. First observations of AGN with XMM-Newton. PROBING THE PHYSICS OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI BY MULTIWAVELENGTH MONITORING, PROCEEDINGS (vol. 224, pp. 35-44). link>
-
2001. PDS 456: An extreme accretion rate quasar?. X-RAY ASTRONOMY (vol. 599, pp. 894-897). link>
-
2001. XMM-Newton observations of AGN iron line profiles. NEW CENTURY OF X-RAY ASTRONOMY (vol. 251, pp. 120-123). link>
-
2001. X-ray spectral complexity in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies. X-RAY ASTRONOMY (vol. 599, pp. 995-998). link>
Year 2
- PHYS-2PROB - Physics Problem Classes (a component of all year-2 modules)
Post-Graduate
- EDU-40054 Science Additional Specialism Programme (Quantum Mechanics and Astrophysics module).

