![Carys Evans](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/501?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Overview
I am a first year PhD student studying supernovae, the explosive death of stars, with a focus on extreme events beyond the standard models. I work on light curve modelling (predicting how the brightness of a supernova changes over time), and observations. I am an active member of the ePESSTO+ collaboration, a time domain astronomy survey that works to classify and follow up transient objects.
Prior to my PhD, I completed an integrated masters degree in physics (MPhys), also at Cardiff University, graduating in summer 2021.
Research
My current research is focused on extreme supernovae, specifically superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) and fast blue optical transients (FBOTs). Over the last 15+ years we have observed an increasing number of these transients, and while we are beginning to classify these events into distinct groups, we still know very little about the mechanics of what causes these events. They defy our current understanding of how stars explode, and learning more about these objects is the main focus of my research.
I am currently working on a code to fit theoretical light curve models to observations of these extreme events, in the hopes of narrowing down the process(es) driving them. I am also studying two specific SLSNe: OGLE15xl and SN2019gfm.