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Decker French

Profile picture for Decker French

Contact Information

224 Astronomy
1002 W. Green St.
Urbana, IL
M/C 221
Assistant Professor

Biography

Professor French received her SB degrees in Physics and Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences in 2011 from MIT, and her PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Arizona in 2017. She was a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, CA. Professor French joined the faculty at UIUC in 2020. 

Research Interests

Galaxy evolution

Transient astronomy

Optical and radio observations

Research Description

Professor French uses multi-wavelength observations to study how galaxies evolve over time and co-evolve with their supermassive black holes. 

Additional Campus Affiliations

Assistant Professor, Astronomy
Assistant Professor, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)

Recent Publications

Faris, S., Arcavi, I., Makrygianni, L., Hiramatsu, D., Terreran, G., Farah, J., Howell, D. A., McCully, C., Newsome, M., Padilla Gonzalez, E., Pellegrino, C., Bostroem, K. A., Abojanb, W., Lam, M. C., Tomasella, L., Brink, T. G., Filippenko, A. V., French, K. D., Clark, P., ... Johansson, J. (2024). Light-curve Structure and Hα Line Formation in the Tidal Disruption Event AT 2019azh. Astrophysical Journal, 969(2), Article 104. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad4a72

Lin, L., Pan, H. A., Ellison, S. L., Harada, N., Jiménez-Donaire, M. J., French, K. D., Baker, W. M., Hsieh, B. C., Koyama, Y., López-Cobá, C., Michiyama, T., Rowlands, K., Sánchez, S. F., & Thorp, M. D. (2024). The ALMaQUEST Survey. XII. Dense Molecular Gas as Traced by HCN and HCO+ in Green Valley Galaxies. Astrophysical Journal, 963(2), Article 115. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad18b9

Sun, Y., Lee, G. H., Zabludoff, A. I., French, K. D., Helton, J. M., Kerrison, N. A., Tremonti, C. A., & Yang, Y. (2024). Evolution of gas flows along the starburst to post-starburst to quiescent galaxy sequence. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 528(4), 5783-5803. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae366

Tinyanont, S., Foley, R. J., Taggart, K., Davis, K. W., LeBaron, N., Andrews, J. E., Bustamante-Rosell, M. J., Camacho-Neves, Y., Chornock, R., Coulter, D. A., Galbany, L., Jha, S. W., Kilpatrick, C. D., Kwok, L. A., Larison, C., Pierel, J. R., Siebert, M. R., Aldering, G., Auchettl, K., ... Ward, S. M. (2024). Keck Infrared Transient Survey. I. Survey Description and Data Release 1. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 136(1), Article 014201. https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/ad1b39

Wevers, T., & French, K. D. (2024). Extended Emission-line Regions in Poststarburst Galaxies Hosting Tidal Disruption Events. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 969(1), Article L17. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad5725

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