Dr. Alex Richings

Lecturer
Centre for Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Modelling, University of Hull
E. A. Milne Centre for Astrophysics, University of Hull

Welcome to my website. I am currently a Lecturer in the Centre for Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Modelling (DAIM) and the E. A. Milne Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Hull. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Teaching Fellow at the Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University, and a Lindheimer postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University. Prior to that, I completed my Ph.D. in Astrophysics at the University of Leiden under the supervision of Prof. Joop Schaye.

I use numerical simulations to study the formation and evolution of galaxies. My research particularly focusses on modelling the non-equilibrium chemistry of ions and molecules in these simulations. Chemistry plays an important role in understanding galaxy formation, as observations of galaxies often involve emission and absorption lines from individual chemical species, which trace different gas phases. By modelling the chemical processes that determine the abundances of these species, we can make predictions for these observables from our simulations that we can compare directly to observations. Accurate chemical modelling is also important for understanding how gas cools, as different species radiate away the thermal energy at different rates via transitions between excited states.

For a more detailed overview of my research topics, please visit the research section of this site.