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Staff Profile

Dr Vicky Fawcett

Research Associate - Astrophysics

Background

I am a Research Associate in Astrophysics working with Dr Christopher Harrison. Broadly, my research involves multi-wavelength observations of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and the role they play in galaxy evolution - I am most interested in dusty quasars. I am also involved in the VLT/MOONS spectroscopic survey, which will provide infrared spectroscopy for thousands of Type 1 AGN.


I previously completed my PhD at Durham University, where I used radio data and optical-near-infrared spectroscopy to explore the differences between red and blue quasars.


I have a strong interest in outreach as I believe this is one of the best ways to get more people of all ages excited and engaged with Astronomy and STEM.

Research

The Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph (MOONS)

MOONS is a next generation multi-object spectrograph (MOS) for the VLT, expected to have first light end of 2023. It will have a wavelength coverage of 0.65-1.8 microns, allowing studies of [OIII] outflows at much higher redshifts than the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). I am part of the technical working group that are working on developing and testing the pipelines that will eventually be used for target classification and fitting. In particular, I will be focusing on the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN).
I am also interested in using the data from MOONS to explore obscured AGN, outflows at high redshifts, and the dust extinction properties of AGN.


Dust-reddened quasars

Quasars are the most powerful type of AGN which are typically very blue at optical wavelengths, due to an unobscured viewing angle to the accretion disc that surrounds the supermassive black hole, which peaks at optical-UV wavelengths. My previous work during my PhD (supervised by Professor David Alexander) focused on the radio and optical-near-infrared spectroscopic properties of quasars that appeared much redder at optical and infrared wavelengths, and investigating how these relate to typical blue quasars

Exploring the radio properties of red quasars, we find that they have a higher radio detection rate compared to blue quasars. We also find that this radio emission is compact, radio-quiet, and likely driven by small-scale jets or winds. The results are incompatible with a simple viewing angle scenario, and suggest red quasars could be in a "blow-out" phase. For more details see Klindt 2019; Fawcett 2020, Rosario 2022,2021, Calistro Rivera 2021.

Using VLT/X-shooter data we find that the majority of red quasars are red due to dust and find no significant differences in the accretion properties that could be driving this enhanced radio emission. For more details see Fawcett 2022.


The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)

DESI is an optical spectroscopic survey that will observe ~35 million galaxies and quasars by the summer of 2026. I have an ongoing program that targets dust-reddened quasars in DESI that may have otherwise been missed by the nominal quasar selections. With this growing sample, we can explore accretion, radio, and dust extinction properties of the dusty quasars, comparing to typical blue quasars.

Publications