Claudia Scarlata

Scarlata's research is in the area of galaxy formation, in particular focusing on the poorly-understood balance between the gas flow into and out of the galaxy, and the gas consumption rate (star formation). This energy exchange determines the physical properties of the gas (temperature, density) which in turn determine the properties and evolution of the galaxy and the intergalactic medium. Scarlata's work is observational in nature, using a range of complementary techniques to study galaxies at different cosmic epochs and trace their evolution. She is now getting ready to analyze data from new upcoming telescopes, which will provide spectral and imaging information for billions of galaxies. Extracting basic trends and physically interpreting this large amount of data will require the application of new algorithms, optimized for the volume and complexity of the datasets.