rschisholm@wisc.edu
Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison
I am a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison studying astrophysics under Prof. Elena D'Onghia.
My research interests broadly span dwarf galaxy structure and dynamics, primarily through the lens of
cosmological simulations.
I am a member of the CLUES
collaboration, and the SDSS collaboration.
Currently, most of my work revolves around studying topics of galactic dynamics using cosmological
zoom-in simulations; in particular, the HESTIA simulations provide an unparalleled laboratory
to study small-scale galactic phenomena at a sufficient resolution, while still enabling proper embedding in the correct
cosmographic landscape; The following is a list of several projects I'm working on.
Leveraging simulations of LMC-mass dwarfs to understand central black hole sloshing.
Using a sample of LMC-mass dwarfs of varying histories (with/sans satellites and differing masses), I am
resolving the perturbations of the central massive blackhole within these dwarfs due to external interactions,
and its subsequent "sloshing" around the central region of the dwarf. In particular, the ultimate aim of
this project is to provide estimates and insights as to where within the central region of the LMC its
proposed central massive blackhole might be located; subsequent observation can be made by the Large Volume
Mapper, Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
Magellanic Cloud-analogs in a cosmological context.
A relatively novel tool in understanding our closest galactic neighbors, using the HESTIA simulations I
investigate "Magellanic-system analogs", that is systems of dwarfs resembling the Large and Small Magellanic
Clouds (LMC, SMC) in mass and other properties, that form naturally with a virialized halo and embedded in
the correct cosmographic environment. More specifically, insight into a proposed primordial Magellanic
corona and the survivability of HI structures (such as the Magellanic Stream and the Leading Arm) within
said warm-hot corona can help constrain properties and potential histories of the Magellanic Clouds. I was
able to place an upper bound on the lifetime of purely tidally stripped Leading Arm of ~600 Myr, and show
that a stellar component to the Magellanic Stream could be spatially non-coexistent with the dominant HI
strand. This work was published in ApJ; DOI.
non-science
Outside of science, I spend most of my time in cafés, doing some combination of the following:
enjoying music --listening to and playing--, biking to the countryside, cooking new dishes, discovering new
places while travelling, and reading-- some of my favorite authors are Clarke, Le Guin, Camus,
and Tolstoy.
