My name is Clayton Robertson
I am a PhD candidate in Physics & Astronomy at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. I received my BS in Physics with a track in Astrophysics and in Mathematics from the University of Louisville in 2020.
I specialize in mapping interstellar dust attenuation in spiral galaxies with overlapping galaxy pairs. I have experience in mapping emission lines with IFU spectroscopy
Research & Interests
Overlapping Galaxy Pairs
When a galaxy fortuitously overlaps another, the features of the foreground galaxy are backlit, revealing features in the foreground galaxy where light is absorbed. One can map dust attenuation, the combination of light extinction and scattering from interstellar dust, of the foreground galaxy by mapping the light lost from the overlap. This has been done with multiple pairs, but a specific crown jewel is VV 191, a nearby spiral galaxy partially overlapping a smooth, blue elliptical galaxy. This galaxy pair has been observed with HST, JWST, and other instruments for its ideal configuration (see background image).
Emission Line Spectroscopy
Along with mapping dust attenuation from overlapping galaxies, I also have extensive experience with mapping dust attenuation from nebular emission lines with IFU spectroscopy. I have mapped the dust attenuation using the Balmer decrement, the two strongest Balmer emission lines, throughout the spiral foreground galaxy of VV 191.
Publications
Main Author
Robertson, Clayton, Benne W. Holwerda, Jason Young, William C. Keel, Jessica M. Berkheimer, Kyle Cook, Christopher J. Conselice, et al. 2024. “Ground- and Space-Based Dust Observations of VV 191 Overlapping Galaxy Pair.” The Astronomical Journal 167(6): 263. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ad39c4.
Co-Author
Seillé, L.-M., Buat, V., Fernández, V., Boquien, M., Roehlly, Y., Boselli, A., Calabrò, A., Amorín, R. O., Backhaus, B. E., Burgarella, D., Cleri, N. J., Dickinson, M., Hathi, N. P., Holwerda, B. W., Koekemoer, A. M., Napolitano, L., Pacucci, F., Robertson, C., & Yung, L. Y. A. (2024). Physical properties of strong 1 < z < 3 Balmer and Paschen lines emitters observed with JWST. In arXiv e-prints. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.09659
Berkheimer, J. M., Carleton, T., Windhorst, R. A., Keel, W. C., Holwerda, B. W., Nonino, M., Cohen, S. H., Jansen, R. A., Coe, D., Conselice, C. J., Driver, S. P., Frye, B. L., Grogin, N. A., Koekemoer, A. M., Lucas, R. A., Marshall, M. A., Pirzkal, N., Robertson, C., Robotham, A., … Yan, H. (2024). JWST NIRCam Photometry: A Study of Globular Clusters Surrounding Bright Elliptical Galaxy VV 191a at z = 0.0513. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 964(2), L29. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad2688
Keel, W. C., Windhorst, R. A., Jansen, R. A., Cohen, S. H., Summers, J., Holwerda, B., Bradford, S. T., Robertson, C. D., Ferrami, G., Wyithe, S., Yan, H., Conselice, C. J., Driver, S. P., Robotham, A., Grogin, N. A., Willmer, C. N. A., Koekemoer, A. M., Frye, B. L., Hathi, N. P., … Zitrin, A. (2023). JWST’s PEARLS: Dust Attenuation and Gravitational Lensing in the Backlit-galaxy System VV 191. The Astronomical Journal, 165(4), 166. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/acbdff
Holwerda, B. W., Hsu, C.-C., Hathi, N., Bisigello, L., de la Vega, A., Haro, P. A., Bagley, M., Dickinson, M., Finkelstein, S. L., Kartaltepe, J. S., Koekemoer, A. M., Papovich, C., Pirzkal, N., Cook, K., Robertson, C., Casey, C. M., Aganze, C., Pérez-González, P. G., Lucas, R. A., … Kirkpatrick, A. (2024). Cosmic evolution early release science survey (CEERS): Multi-classing galactic dwarf stars in the deep JWST/NIRCam. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, stae316. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae316
Holwerda, B. W., Phillipps, S., Weerasooriya, S., Bovill, M. S., Brough, S., Brown, M. J. I., Robertson, C., & Cook, K. (2023). Galaxy And Mass Assembly: The xSAGA galaxy complement in nearby galaxy groups. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 526(3), 4575–4584. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad2987
Smith, D., Haberzettl, L., Porter, L. E., Porter-Temple, R., Henry, C. P. A., Holwerda, B., López-Sánchez, Á. R., Phillipps, S., Graham, A. W., Brough, S., Pimbblet, K. A., Liske, J., Kelvin, L. S., Robertson, C. D., Roemer, W., Walmsley, M., O’Ryan, D., & Géron, T. (2022). Galaxy And Mass Assembly: Galaxy morphology in the green valley, prominent rings, and looser spiral arms. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 517(3), 4575–4589. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2258
Li, Q., Conselice, C. J., Sarron, F., Harvey, T., Austin, D., Adams, N., Trussler, J. A. A., Duan, Q., Ferreira, L., Westcott, L., Harris, H., Dole, H., Grogin, N. A., Frye, B., Koekemoer, A. M., Robertson, C., Windhorst, R. A., Polletta, M. del C., & Hathi, N. P. (2024). EPOCHS Paper X: Environmental effects on Galaxy Formation and Protocluster Galaxy candidates at $4.5. In arXiv e-prints. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2405.17359
Contact Me
University of Louisville
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Natural Sciences Building
Louisville, KY 40292