Dr Christopher Lovell
Summary
I am a computational astrophysicist working at the interface of theory and observations. My work utilises numerical simulations, novel statistical methods and artifical intelligence.
Biography
I joined the University of Portsmouth as a Dennis Sciama postdoctoral fellow in October 2022. Before this I completed a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Hertfordshire with Prof. James Geach, and a JSPS short-term fellowship at the University of Tokyo with Prof. Masami Ouchi.
I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Sussex in July 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Peter Thomas and Prof. Stephen Wilkins.
Research interests
My research interests span a broad range of topics in galaxy evolution, though I am particularly focused on early galaxy formation in the first billion years after the big bang. This nascent period in the Universe's history is now being probed in unprecedented detail by a number of state of the art observatories, such as the James Webb Space telescope.
I run and analyse large numerical cosmological simulations, creating mock observations of the real Universe to better understand the data, and understand the physical processes driving galaxy transformation. I also employ artifical intelligence techniques, using these to improve the performance of the simulations and reveal new insights.
Research outputs
2025
Field-level simulation-based inference with galaxy catalogs: the impact of systematic effects
Castro, T., Dolag, K., Hernquist, L., Hernández-Martínez, E., Lovell, C. C., Marinacci, F., Ni, Y., Perez, L. A., Raul Abramo, L., Shao, H., Spergel, D. N., Villaescusa-Navarro, F., Vogelsberger, M.,
21 Jan 2025, In: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. 2025, 1, p. 1-42, 42p., 082
2024
EPOCHS. IV. SED modeling assumptions and their impact on the stellar mass function at 6.5 ≤ z ≤ 13.5 using PEARLS and public JWST observations
Adams, N. J., Austin, D., Bhatawdekar, R., Caruana, J., Cheng, C., Coe, D., Cohen, S. H., Conselice, C. J., Driver, S. P., Duan, Q., Ferreira, L., Frye, B., Furtak, L. J., Grogin, N. A., Harris, H., Harvey, T.,
26 Dec 2024, In: Astrophysical Journal. 978, 1, p. 1-36, 36p., 89
The JWST EXCELS survey: too much, too young, too fast? Ultra-massive quiescent galaxies at 3 < z < 5
Almaini, O., Arellano-Córdova, K. Z., Barrufet, L., Begley, R., Carnall, A. C., Cimatti, A., Cullen, F., Donnan, C. T., Dunlop, J. S., Ellis, R. S., Grogin, N. A., Hamadouche, M. L., Illingworth, G. D.,
1 Oct 2024, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 534, 1, p. 325-348, 24p.
Cosmological baryon spread and impact on matter clustering in CAMELS
Anglés-Alcázar, D., Borrow, J., Davé, R., Gebhardt, M., Genel, S., Hernquist, L., Lovell, C. C., Marinacci, F., Nagai, D., Ni, Y. Y., Villaescusa-Navarro, F., Vogelsberger, M.
1 Apr 2024, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 529, 4, p. 4896-4913, 18p.
Star formation efficiency across large-scale galactic environments
Davé, R., Donevski, D., Ghodsi, L., Lim, S., Lovell, C. C., Man, A. W., Narayanan, D.
1 Mar 2024, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 528, 3, p. 4393-4408, 16p.
Outshining by recent star formation prevents the accurate measurement of high-z galaxy stellar masses
Brammer, G., Cui, W., Davé, R., Iyer, K. G., Li, Q., Lovell, C. C., Lower, S., Marinacci, F., Narayanan, D., Sales, L. V., Stark, D. P., Torrey, P., Vogelsberger, M.
20 Jan 2024, In: Astrophysical Journal. 961, 1, 30p., 73
First Light And Reionisation Epoch Simulations (FLARES) – XII: The consequences of star–dust geometry on galaxies in the EoR
Greve, T. R., Irodotou, D., Lovell, C. C., Roper, W. J., Seeyave, L. T. C., Thomas, P. A., Vijayan, A. P., Wilkins, S. M.
1 Jan 2024, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 527, 3, p. 7337–7354
First Light and Reionization Epoch Simulations (FLARES) – XIV. The Balmer/4000 Å breaks of distant galaxies
Caruana, J., Chworowsky, K., Conselice, C. J., Finkelstein, S. L., Irodotou, D., Lovell, C. C., Roper, W. J., Seeyave, L. T. C., Stanway, E. R., Vijayan, A. P., Vikaeus, A., Wilkins, S. M., Zackrisson, E.
1 Jan 2024, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 527, 3, p. 7965-7973, 9p.
IMaNGA: Mock MaNGA galaxies based on IllustrisTNG and MaStar SSPs. - III. Stellar metallicity drivers in MaNGA and TNG50
Chen, Y., Law, D. R., Lovell, C. C., Maraston, C., Nanni, L., Neumann, J., Thomas, D., Trayford, J., Yan, R.
1 Jan 2024, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 527, 3, p. 6419-6438, 20p.