ProfessorScott Croom

I am an observational astrophysicist focussing on cosmology and the formation and evolution of galaxies. I have a particular focus on the study of quasars and active galactic nuclei, fuelled by the accretion of gas onto super-massive black holes (a million to a billion times more massive than the sun) at the centres of galaxies. The massive luminosity of quasars makes them ideal probes of the distant Universe and I have used their distribution to measure the evolution of cosmic structures and test cosmological models. A second major research focus is on the use of spatially resolved spectroscopy to further our understanding of galaxy evolution. Such observations allow us to measure the internal motions of galaxies and understand the complex interactions between stars, gas, dark matter and black holes.

I have led or am a key player in a number of major spectroscopic surveys of galaxies and quasars with state-of-the-art astronomical instrumentation. These have enabled a diverse array of science, from the measurement of dark energy to key insights into the physics of galaxy formation. I have a keen interest in developing and exploiting new technology to enable new and novel astrophysical experiments. One example of this is the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral field spectrograph (SAMI) that has enabling spatially resolved spectroscopy on many galaxies at once. SAMI is focussed on answering key questions about the formation of galaxies with a large scale observational program, the SAMI Galaxy Survey.  Next generation integral field spectroscopy projects such as Hector, MAGPI and GECKOS will expandour view of the Universe and help to address key questions about the formation of galaxies.

My research aligns with the Faculty of Science Research Strengths - Understanding the Universe, Earth and Space Exploration and Technologies.