KICP Fellow
- Address:
- ERC 411
- Email:
- currodri@uchicago.edu
- Website:
- https://www.currorodriguezmontero.com/
Background
PhD from the University of Oxford, 2024.
Research
Modelling galaxy formation in a cosmological context is one of the most complex and multi-disciplinary endeavours in theoretical physics. Cosmological simulations are capable of predicting the formation of galaxies in this theoretical context, but require feedback – the injection of energy from stars and super-massive black holes – to slow down, or prevent altogether, the stellar mass growth of galaxies. However, this approach notoriously fails to predict the properties of the population of extremely star-forming galaxies in the early Universe unveiled by observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Atacama Large (Sub)Millimetre Array (ALMA). My research focuses on understanding how the microphysics of radiation, thermo-chemistry, dust, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays influence the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) of these extreme environments in the early Universe. With that goal, I have one of the first high-resolution cosmological simulations of galaxy formation including cosmic ray injection by supernova shocks, providing the community with a fundamental understanding of the nature of these elusive ingredients of galaxy formation across cosmic time. I have also developed a novel non-equilibrium thermo-chemistry model, called Dusty-PRISM, which is the first of its kind fully capable of studying the formation and evolution of dust, molecules (including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and ions in the high redshift Universe, predicting direct observables for JWST and ALMA. This model, coupled with on-the-fly radiation transfer and cosmic ray-magneto-hydrodynamics, will allow me to run the first fully consistent simulations of extremely star-forming galaxies, and test our understanding of galaxy and large-scale structure growth within the infant Universe.