Research Interests
My research focuses on studying the host galaxy environments of various astrophysical transients - phenomena that arise from colossal stellar deaths and collisions. Many transients produce the elements that are vital for life to exist. Thus, studying their origins gives us better insight into how we and Earth came to be. Transient host galaxies are especially important to study as they provide pivotal information on their stellar origins and environmental dependencies - traits that are difficult to constrain through any other methods.
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My PhD thesis research at Northwestern focused on the environments of one of the brightest explosions in space - short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Short GRBs are originate from binary neutron stars (BNS; very compact "dead" stars) systems that eventually merge together. They also are thought to produce some of the heaviest elements on the periodic table - including precious metals like gold and platinum. My research has shown that short GRB occur in a wide variety of environments, possibly suggesting that they may be the sole producer of these heavy elements in the Universe.
Publications
A Population of Short-duration Gamma-ray Bursts with Dwarf Host Galaxies
A. E. Nugent, W. Fong, C. Castrejon et al.
The Astrophysical Journal, 962, 5​
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The Host Galaxies of High Velocity Type Ia Supernovae
A. E. Nugent, A. E. Polin, P. E. Nugent
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A. E. Nugent, W. Fong. Y. Dong, et al.
The Astrophysical Journal, 940, 57 (2022)
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A. E. Nugent, W. Fong. Y. Dong, et al.
The Astrophysical Journal, 904, 52 (2020)
Contact
Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Exploration in Astronomy (CIERA)
1800 Sherman Avenue
Evanston, IL 60208
anyanugent2023[at]u.northwestern.edu
Contact
Information
Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
60 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
anya.nugent[at]cfa.harvard.edu
