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Christopher Anderson

Photo of Christopher Anderson

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive

Pasadena, CA 91109

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Structure of the Universe

JPL Postdoc

Biography

I researched 21 cm intensity mapping at the University of Wisconsin Madison, with Professor Peter Timbie, and received my PhD in 2017. I worked as a postdoc with Dr. Eric Switzer from 2018 to 2022 at Goddard Space Flight Center, contributing to the EXCLAIM project. My research career has focused on combining galaxy surveys and intensity maps to reveal new insights into astrophysics and cosmology. I believe that, over the next 20 years, new intensity mapping experiments and next-generation galaxy surveys will tremendously improve our picture of the Universe’s evolution from the time of last scattering of the CMB (when stars had not yet formed) to the rich filamentary structure of galaxies and clusters that we see today. I enjoy the challenge of digging out small signals through foregrounds and noise, which is why I was drawn to intensity mapping.

Education

  • PhD in Physics, University of Wisconsin Madison, 2017
  • BA in Physics and Applied Mathematics, University of California Berkeley, 2009

Professional Experience

  • Postdoctoral Scholar, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (2022 - Present)
  • Assistant Research Scientist (postdoc), Goddard Space Flight Center, Johns Hopkins University, 2018-2022
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Wisconsin Madison, 2017
  • Graduate Student Teaching/Research Assistant, University of Wisconsin Madison, 2010-2017
    Research Assistant, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Research Interests

  • Understanding star formation history by measuring aggregate emission of bright atomic and molecular lines
  • Constraining the dark energy equation of state through clustering analysis.
  • Combining intensity maps with galaxy surveys to probe matter clustering and the environment of star formation.
  • Development of Spherical Harmonic Tomography (SHT) as the primary analysis tool for wide and deep matter clustering surveys.

Selected Awards

  • Jansky Scholarship, 2013
  • Van Vleck Award, 2012

Selected Publications

- C. J. Anderson, E. R. Switzer, and P. C. Breysse. Constraining low redshift [CII] Emission by Cross-Correlating FIRAS and BOSS Data, accepted by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2202.00203

- P.A.R. Ade, C. J. Anderson, E.M. Barrentine, N.G. Bellis, A.D. Bolatto, P. C. Breysse, B. T. Bulcha, G. Cataldo, J. A. Connors, P. W. Cursey, and others. The Experiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM), Journal of Low Temperature Physics p. 1-11, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-019-02320-5

- P. C. Breysse, C. J. Anderson, and P. Berger. Canceling out intensity mapping foregrounds, Physical Review Letters 123, 231105, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.231105

- E. R. Switzer, C. J. Anderson, A. R. Pullen, S. Yang. Intensity Mapping in the Presence of Foregrounds and Correlated Continuum Emission, The Astrophysical Journal, 2019 Feb 12;872(1):82. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaf9ab

- C.J. Anderson, N.J. Luciw, Y.-C. Li, C.-Y. Kuo, J. Yadav, K.W. Masui, T.-C. Chang, X. Chen, N. Oppermann, Y.-W. Liao, U.-L. Pen, D.C. Price, L. Staveley-Smith, E.R. Switzer, P.T. Timbie, L. Wolz. Low-amplitude clustering in low-redshift 21-cm intensity maps cross-correlated with 2dF galaxy densities, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2018 Feb 9;476(3):3382-92. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty346

- Kiyoshi Masui, Hsiu-Hsien Lin, Jonathan Sievers, Christopher J. Anderson, Tzu-Ching Chang, Xuelei Chen, Apratim Ganguly, Miranda Jarvis, Cheng-Yu Kuo, Yi-Chao Li, Yu-Wei Liao, Maura McLaughlin, Ue-Li Pen, Jeffrey B. Peterson, Alexander Roman, Peter T. Timbie, Tabitha Voytek, Jaswant K. Yadav, Dense magnetized plasma associated with a fast radio burst. Nature (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15769

- Y.-J. Hwang, C.-C. Lin, C.-T. Ho, C.-C. Chuang, C.-C. Chiong, J. Peterson, C. Anderson, P. Timbie, S. White, S. Srikanath, T.-C. Chang. 700 – 945 MHz Dual-Polarized Short Backfire Antenna with Integrated Cryogenic Low-Noise Amplifiers for Green Bank Telescope. 2013 Asia-Pacific Radio Science Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, Sept. 2013.