Dr Lucy Evans

Profile

I completed an Integrated Master’s in Physics with Astrophysics (International) at the University of Leeds (with third year, 2017-18, spent abroad at McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada), graduating in 2019. For my Master’s project, under the supervision of Evgenia Koumpia and Rene Oudmaijer, I studied H2D+ and N2H+ observations towards a sample of prestellar cores using JCMT data, using radiative transfer analysis techniques to obtain excitation temperature and column density measurements.

I also modelled the radial profiles of temperature and density towads these cores. This work was later published as part of Koumpia et al. 2020 in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Following this, I completed my PhD as part of the Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions project “Astrochemical Origins” (ACO) under the supervision of Charlotte Vastel and Francesco Fontani.

I divided my time equally between Institut de Recherche Astrophysique (IRAP) in Toulouse, France (2019-2020, 2022) and Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) in Arcetri, Italy (2020-2022). My PhD thesis, entitled “Molecular Fractionation in the Interstellar Medium: A High Spatial Resolution Approach to Complex Protostellar Environments”, was succesfully defended in November 2022. This consisted of original research towards multiple protostellar objects within the context of both the ALMA Large Program FAUST and the NOEMA Large Program SOLIS, with both of these providing the interferometric data that I analysed using radiative transfer techniques to obtain measurements of multiple physical parameters, with fractionation ratios a key focus.

After completing my PhD, I began my current position, a Research Fellow in ALMA Observations of Protoplanetary Disks at the University of Leeds, in December 2022, working within the Astro/Exo Chemistry Team primarily collaborating with Catherine Walsh and John Ilee.

Research interests

My research interests are best described as astrochemistry through the star formation process. I have studied a variety of objects, including prestellar and protostellar cores, with my current research focussing on protoplanetary disks. I am interested in the interdisciplinary nature of the study of astrochemistry, in particular observations and modelling. More specifically, I have analysed both single-dish (JCMT) and interferometric (NOEMA, ALMA) data towards this wide range of objects, utilising radiative transfer techniques in both LTE and non-LTE to obtain measurements of temperature and column density among other parameters.

I have a particular expertise in molecular fractionation, with this having formed the basis of my PhD thesis, as well as complex organic molecules (COMs), both of which I have studied with a view to obtain clues to our own astrochemical origins. Relevantly, please visit https://aco-itn.oapd.inaf.it/ in order to read more about the ongoing Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions Project “Astrochemical Origins” (ACO), which my PhD was completed within the context of.

In addition, visit http://faust-alma.riken.jp/ and https://solis.osug.fr/ to find out more about the FAUST and SOLIS Large Programs of ALMA and NOEMA, respectively, which form the context of my PhD research.

Qualifications

• PhD (2019-2022): Universite de Toulouse III (IRAP and INAF)
• MPhys BSc (2015-19): University of Leeds