Astroparticle Physics Group

My research is in the areas of astroparticle physics and cosmology. Astroparticle physics involves research at the interface of astronomy and particle physics. It is a synergy which operates in both directions; particle physics is applied to better understand astrophysical objects as well as using the Universe as a laboratory for high-energy physics.

My group are members of the IceCube collaboration which operates the IceCube neutrino observatory at the South Pole. Our collaboration has achieved a series of break-through results discovering astrophysical neutrinos in 2013 and identifying the first source of these neutrinos in 2017.

I obtained my BSc (Hons) in Physics and an MSc in Applied Mathematics from the University of the Witwatersrand. After several years in the remote sensing industry, I completed my PhD in cosmology at the University of Portsmouth, followed by research positions at the University of Cambridge, the University of Chicago, and the University of Oxford, before joining the University of Canterbury in December 2011.

 

My research is in astroparticle physics and cosmology, with a focus on testing fundamental physics using observational data. A major theme of my work is the search for non-gravitational evidence for dark matter. This has led me to study the Galactic Centre, where any dark-matter signal is likely to be strongest, but where it must be disentangled from complex astrophysical backgrounds, particularly emission from millisecond pulsars.

 

Selected research highlights include helping to develop a Galactic bulge model that is now widely used in studies of the Galactic Centre gamma-ray excess, helping to introduce compensated isocurvature perturbations, and, during my PhD, helping to develop the adiabatic/entropy perturbation formalism that became a standard framework for multi-field inflation.

 

My current work includes observational tests of axion dark matter and constraining dark matter using gravitational-wave observations.

 

I am teaching courses in cosmology, particle physics, and quantum field theory, and I welcome enquiries from prospective MSc and PhD students. Information about PhD scholarships is available here.