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Black Hole

Lensing of space time around a black hole. At Oxford we study black holes observationally and theoretically on all size and time scales - it is some of our core work.

Credit: ALAIN RIAZUELO, IAP/UPMC/CNRS. CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES.

Dr Imogen Whittam

Hintze Fellow

Research theme

  • Astronomy and astrophysics

Sub department

  • Astrophysics

Research groups

  • Galaxy formation and evolution
  • Hintze Centre for Astrophysical Surveys
  • MeerKAT
  • Rubin-LSST
  • The Square Kilometre Array (SKA)
  • Euclid
imogen.whittam@physics.ox.ac.uk
Denys Wilkinson Building, room 558
  • About
  • Publications

MIGHTEE: The Host-Galaxy Associated Catalogue of the Radio Sources in MIGHTEE Continuum Data Release 1

(2026)

Authors:

CL Hale, J Hamlett, IH Whittam, MJ Jarvis, MJ Hardcastle, SL Jung, N Stylianou, RG Varadaraj, M Vaccari, L Barchiesi, PN Best, KKL Charlton, E Malefahlo, E Moravec, JP Moss, M Rakototafika, TF Rarivoarinoro, F Sinigaglia, MN Tudorache, SI Loubser, L Heino, A Saintonge, A Mazumder, N Netshiavha, DJB Smith, L Verdes-Montenegro, J Delhaize, H Pan, F Pozzi, Z Randriamanakoto, L Stockenstroom, AA V膬r膬艧teanu, E Vardoulaki, WL Williams, RAA Bowler, L Marchetti, A Matthews

Euclid: Precise inference of defocus wavefront error from image diffraction spike measurements

ArXiv 2606.25625 (2026)

Authors:

D Neumann, L Miller, H Hoekstra, K Kuijken, IH Whittam, NE Chisari, R Nakajima, B Altieri, A Amara, S Andreon, N Auricchio, C Baccigalupi, M Baldi, S Bardelli, A Basset, P Battaglia, A Biviano, E Branchini, M Brescia, S Camera, G Ca帽as-Herrera, V Capobianco, C Carbone, J Carretero, M Castellano, G Castignani, S Cavuoti, KC Chambers, A Cimatti, C Colodro-Conde, G Congedo, CJ Conselice, L Conversi, Y Copin, F Courbin, HM Courtois, M Cropper, H Degaudenzi, G De Lucia, H Dole, F Dubath, X Dupac, M Farina, R Farinelli, S Farrens, S Ferriol, S Fotopoulou, N Fourmanoit, M Frailis, E Franceschi, M Fumana, S Galeotta, K George, B Gillis, C Giocoli, P G贸mez-Alvarez, J Gracia-Carpio, A Grazian, F Grupp, SVH Haugan, W Holmes, F Hormuth, A Hornstrup, K Jahnke, M Jhabvala, B Joachimi, S Kermiche, A Kiessling, M Kilbinger, R Kohley, B Kubik, M Kunz, H Kurki-Suonio, R Laureijs, AMC Le Brun, S Ligori, PB Lilje, V Lindholm, I Lloro, G Mainetti, O Mansutti, O Marggraf, M Martinelli, N Martinet, F Marulli, RJ Massey, E Medinaceli, S Mei, M Meneghetti, E Merlin, G Meylan, A Mora, M Moresco, C Moretti, L Moscardini, C Neissner, RC Nichol, S-M Niemi, C Padilla, S Paltani, F Pasian, K Pedersen, WJ Percival, V Pettorino, A Pezzotta, S Pires, G Polenta, M Poncet, LA Popa, GD Racca, F Raison, A Renzi, J Rhodes, G Riccio, E Romelli, M Roncarelli, R Saglia, Z Sakr, D Sapone, B Sartoris, M Schirmer, P Schneider, T Schrabback, A Secroun, E Sihvola, P Simon, C Sirignano, G Sirri, A Spurio Mancini, L Stanco, P Tallada-Cresp铆, AN Taylor, I Tereno, N Tessore, S Toft, R Toledo-Moreo, F Torradeflot, I Tutusaus, L Valenziano, J Valiviita, T Vassallo, A Veropalumbo, Y Wang, J Weller, G Zamorani, FM Zerbi, A Gregorio, A Loureiro, M Sereno

Applications of 1.4 GHz diagnostics to Type Ia Supernova host galaxies

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press 549:1 (2026) stag832

Authors:

S Ramaiya, MJ Jarvis, M Vincenzi, M Sullivan, IH Whittam

Abstract:

Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) standardization parameters exhibit evidence for systematic variation across the host galaxy star formation rate鈥搒tellar mass (SFR) plane, motivating the incorporation of galaxy SFR information in cosmological inference. SFRs are commonly estimated via spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting with far-infrared (FIR) measurements to account for dust-obscured star formation. Such FIR coverage will, however, be limited for upcoming time-domain surveys such as the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), necessitating the use of alternative SFR tracers. Here, we reconstruct the SFR鈥� plane using 1.4 GHz diagnostics, to test the consistency of host classifications against FIR-constrained SED-based estimates. Within this plane, SN Ia host galaxies are divided into three regions: Region 1 (low mass), Region 2 (high-mass star forming), and Region 3 (high-mass passive). We find that per cent of SN hosts retain identical region assignments when using radio versus FIR-constrained SED-derived SFRs. Measuring SN Ia nuisance parameters () within each subregion, we find consistent values between the two SFR鈥� plane reconstructions, indicating limited sensitivity to SFR estimator choice, with the largest deviations in Region 3 at . Across the three 1.4 GHz SFR鈥� subregions, we confirm the region-dependent variation in SN Ia standardization parameters 鈥� particularly 鈥� reported in our earlier SED-based analysis. With near-complete radio coverage of the LSST footprint anticipated from current and forthcoming radio continuum surveys (e.g. Square Kilometre Array), radio SFR calibrations will become an increasingly useful and scalable approach to host galaxy classification, supporting the construction of robust SN Ia subsamples for precision cosmology.

Identifying Transient Hosts in LSST鈥檚 Deep Drilling Fields with Galaxy Catalogs

The Astrophysical Journal American Astronomical Society 1000:2 (2026) 289

Authors:

JG Weston, DR Young, SJ Smartt, M Nicholl, MJ Jarvis, IH Whittam

Abstract:

The upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will enable astronomers to discover rare and distant astrophysical transients. Host-galaxy association is crucial for selecting the most scientifically interesting transients for follow-up. LSST deep drilling field (DDF) observations will detect distant transients occurring in galaxies below the detection limits of most all-sky catalogs. Here, we investigate the use of preexisting, field-specific catalogs for host identification in the DDFs and a ranking of their usefulness. We have compiled a database of 70 deep catalogs that overlap with the Rubin DDFs and constructed thin catalogs to be homogenized and combined for transient-host matching. A systematic ranking of their utility is discussed and applied based on the inclusion of information such as spectroscopic redshifts and morphological information. Utilizing this data against a Dark Energy Survey sample of supernovae with pre-identified hosts in the XMM-Large Scale Structure and the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South fields, we evaluate different methods for transient-host association in terms of both accuracy and processing speed. We also apply light data-cleaning techniques to identify and remove contaminants within our associations, such as diffraction spikes and blended galaxies where the correct host cannot be determined with confidence. We use a lightweight machine learning approach in the form of extreme gradient boosting to generate confidence scores in our contaminant selections and associated metrics. Finally, we discuss the computational expense of implementation within the LSST transient alert brokers, which will require efficient, fast-paced processing to handle the large stream of survey data.

MIGHTEE: The evolving radio luminosity functions of star-forming galaxies to z 鈭� 4.5 and the cosmic history of star formation

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) (2026) stag616

Authors:

Nijin J Thykkathu, Matt J Jarvis, Imogen H Whittam, CL Hale, AM Matthews, I Heywood, Eliab Malefahlo, RG Varadaraj, N Stylianou, Chris Pearson, Nick Seymour, Mattia Vaccari

Abstract:

Abstract A key question in extragalactic astronomy is how the star-formation rate density (SFRD) evolves over cosmic time. A powerful way of addressing this question is using radio-continuum observations, where the radio waves are unaffected by dust and are able to reach sufficient resolution to resolve individual galaxies. We present an investigation of the 1.4聽GHz radio luminosity functions (RLFs) of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) using deep radio continuum observations in the COSMOS and XMM鈥揕SS fields, covering a combined area of 鈭�4 deg2. These data enable the most accurate measurement of the evolution in the SFRD from mid-frequency radio continuum observations. We model the total RLF as the sum of evolving SFG and AGN components, negating the need for individual source classification. We find that the SFGs have systematically higher space densities at fixed luminosity than found in previous radio studies, but consistent with more recent studies with MeerKAT. We attribute this to the excellent low-surface brightness sensitivity of MeerKAT. We then determine the evolution of the SFRD. Adopting the far-infrared 鈥� radio correlation results in a significantly higher SFRD at z > 1, compared to combined UV and far-infrared measurements. However, using more recent relations for the correlation between star-formation rate and radio luminosity, based on full spectral energy distribution modelling, can resolve this apparent discrepancy. Thus radio observations provide a powerful method of determining the total SFRD, in the absence of dust-sensitive far-infrared data.

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