In my postdoc years at USyd, I have spent a significant amount of time learning and studying the field of asteroseismology. I specifically study solar-like oscillators, which are cool oscillators similar to the Sun, but also includes the luminous red giants. I work on red giant asteroseismology mostly. This field has recently exploded due to the advancements made by using CoRoT, Kepler, and TESS data. Using the oscillation modes of these stars, we can decode information about the stellar interiors that are invisibile to us with other detection methods. There is also a rich subset of work regarding modelling these oscillations using stellar evolution simulations such as MESA and by extension oscillation codes such as GYRE.
I also study R Coronae Borealis (RCB) variables and their dustless counterparts, the Hydrogen-Deficient Carbon (HdC) stars. These two types of stars are believed to be formed when a Carbon/Oxygen white dwarf and a Helium white dwarf merge into one object, which then undergoes a new kind of stellar evolution. I am interested in all stars that are believed to be post-WD-merger objects, which includes RCBs and HdCs, as well as the Extreme Helium stars and DY Per variables. Studying RCBs is a very rich subfield, as these stars exhibit a wealth of interesting astrophysics, including but not limited to: stellar pulsations, dust production, unique nucleosynthesis, hydrogen deficiency, etc.
In the broader sense, I use both observations and simulations. My doctoral thesis work is in the MK style of stellar classification and thus I have a lot of experience analyzing spectroscopic differences between types of stars. I’ve also done a fair bit of work modeling post merger stars in the stellar evolution code MESA, which pushes the boundaries on what that code was designed to do. For more details on work that I’ve done, see the Publications tab!