Sam Cutler

Research Interests: 

I am interested in galaxy formation and evolution using both spectroscopic and photometric data. This includes topics such as star fam interested in galaxy formation and evolution using both spectroscopic and photometric data. This includes topics such as star formation history, quiescence, and the distribution of dark matter in galaxies. In the past, I have worked with stacking X-ray data to identify AGN in candidate quiescent galaxies and used X-SHOOTER spectroscopy of a high-redshift, lensed galaxy to extract a spatially resolved rotation curve. I am currently analyzing the morphologies of galaxies in the COSMOS-DASH survey. Drift And SHift (DASH) is a novel technique for observing up to eight HST pointings in a single orbit. This technique combines the benefits of large area surveys and HST resolution surveys. However, the DASH technique limits each pointing in exposure time, leading to shallower observations than traditional HST data. UsingGALFIT, I have fit 2D Sersic profiles to ~50,000 galaxies in COSMOS-DASH and used the error properties of the overlapping CANDELS survey to obtain error estimates for these morphologies. I am currently analyzing these errors to determine recommended magnitude limits, which indicate where morphologies are well measured. This prescription will be useful for future HST proposals seeking to use the DASH technique. I also plan on releasing a COSMOS-DASH morphological catalog to supplement the existing morphological data from surveys like CANDELS.