Ben Jelliffe's Website
About me
I'm a Physics PhD student based at the University of Sydney. I'm currently beginning my PhD project, which aims to cast light on cosmology, galaxy evolution and the nature of AGN/QSOs through the analysis of galaxy clustering in the WiggleZ galaxy redshift survey and several other complete and ongoing surveys.
Research Interests
My principle research interest is the large-scale structure traced by galaxies and what it can tell us about the nature, origin and future of the universe. I am also interested in galaxy formation and evolution.
Current Project
The WiggleZ galaxy redshift survey aims to measure Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO), a characteristic scale which was imprinted on the large-scale distribution of matter at a time when the universe was pervaded by a hot, dense plasma from which the galaxies we observe today ultimately condensed. My own project will address several secondary science goals including exploring AGN/QSO environments and estimating cosmological parameters by measuring redshift-space distortions.
Honours Project
My Honours project, 'The Largest Structures in the Universe?: Searching for Large Quasar Groups in the 2QZ Survey' , was motivated by several prior claimed discoveries of 'Large Quasar Groups' (LQG) - discrete clusters of >10 QSOs spanning vast distances (~1-200 Mpc h-1). Significant clustering on this scale would pose a serious challenge for structure formation models if varified.
Contact details:
Office: Room 456
Email: jelliff@physics.usyd.edu.au