I'm currently working with Prof. Keith Horne on research centred around the hunt for cold extrasolar planets using the phenomenon of gravitational microlensing. In particular the large number of configurations possible in a binary lensing system leads to a very complex parameter space, which must be searched efficiently if the best fitting models describing the system are to be found. To this end I am currently working on the application of a Bayesian methodology to the modelling of binary microlensing events, in the hope that such an approach will make the elimination of well-fitting but non-physical or physically implausible models possible. This work will lead into the implementation of a robust, automatic binary fitting system that can be used both in modelling completed events & in monitoring & modelling anomalous events while they are still in progress, predicting their future behaviour & allowing prioritisation of our limited observational resources.
SA-MG - St Andrews Microlensing Group Wiki - Event modelling pages
ARTEMiS - Automatic Robotic Terrestrial Exoplanet Microlensing Search
MiNDSTEP - Microlensing Network for the Detection of Small Terrestrial Exoplanets
uFUN - Microlensing Follow-Up Network
PLANET - Probing Lensing Anomalies Network
MOA - Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics
OGLE - Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment
St Andrews University Observatory
Lee Kelvin's Messier Hunter
Room 329
School of Physics and Astronomy
University of St. Andrews
North Haugh
St. Andrews, Fife
KY16 9SS
Scotland
Last modified 14 December 2009 by P. Browne