Dr. BA

My group studies Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars and Mira variables — highly evolved, low-to-intermediate mass stars that, being relatively cool, are prolific factories for dust and molecule production. Their pulsations loft this newly formed material into the surrounding stellar atmosphere, making these stars ideal laboratories for studying dust and molecule formation together with the physical processes by which stars enrich their environments at the end of their lives.

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A central effort in my group is building a comprehensive Reference Data Set for over 100 Mira variables, drawing on more than a decade of near-infrared and optical interferometric measurements. This data set brings together fundamental stellar properties derived directly from interferometry — radius, effective temperature, bolometric flux — alongside multi-wavelength observations from Spitzer, GALEX, ISO, and the VLA, and parallax measurements from Gaia. Interferometry's advantage is that it lets us determine these fundamental properties directly, minimizing the modeling assumptions that stellar models usually require and opening the door to insights those assumptions would otherwise obscure. This approach builds on my dissertation work combining Spitzer mid-infrared spectroscopy with interferometric measurements to access the atmospheres of these stars.