Keith Bechtol

I study dark energy, dark matter, neutrinos, and multimessenger astrophysics. I am particularly interested in using wide-field optical imaging surveys and pointed follow-up observations to map the distribution of dark matter in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, and to learn about the particle properties of dark matter in the process. The next major experiment in this field is the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, now under construction in Chile, with first light scheduled in 2021. The associated Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will catalog more stars and galaxies than all previous astronomical surveys combined, and will monitor transient, variable, and moving objects over a ten-year period, generating ∼ 10 million alerts each night. The resulting multipurpose dataset will enable discoveries in cosmology (e.g., dark energy, neutrino physics, inflation) as well as the formation of our Galaxy and our Solar System. I am one of the leads for Rubin Observatory commissioning and science validation on-sky observations and data analysis.

I am also an active member of the Dark Energy Survey (DES), now in its fifth observing season, where I am searching for ultra-faint satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, and searching for electromagnetic counterparts to high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. As one of the Science Release coordinators for DES, I spend a significant fraction of my time helping to assemble and validate science-ready data products for a broad range of cosmological investigations. I am also Principle Investigator for the Magellanic Satellites Survey, a project using the same telescope and camera to search for hierarchical structure at the scale of dwarf galaxies as a novel test of the Cold Dark Matter paradigm.