Prof Vivienne Wild
Professor
Teaching
I co-ordinate and teach the 3rd/4th year Extragalactic Astronomy course which I developed specially for St Andrews undergraduate students in astrophysics. The objectives of this module are to help students: (1) to learn about the observations that enable us to understand galaxy evolution and observational cosmology, (2) to learn to apply a range of physical principles learnt outside this lecture course to the understanding of galaxies, and (3) to be able to apply the material learnt in the lectures to current research activities in extragalactic astrophysics. The course includes "guest seminars" from PhD students and post-docs doing cutting edge research in the field, with constructive feedback provided by the students to guide their learning, and help the guest speakers improve their lecturing style. Assessment includes an exploration of the SDSS galaxy survey database using python programming and SQL.
Research areas
My research is focussed on galaxy formation and evolution. In particular I am interested in the role of galaxy mergers and starbursts in building "red and dead" elliptical galaxies, using absorption line systems to unveil the link between galaxies and their gaseous halos, and the impact of on galaxy evolution.
My work combines observational data from several international galaxy surveys with a large suites of simulations, to study both the spectral and morphological evolution of galaxies following a starburst or merger phase. We aim to understand the physical processes responsible for changing galaxies from the irregular balls of gas observed at high redshift, into the bimodal population of star-forming spirals and quiescent ellipticals seen around us today.
For more information, including research data and code for download, see my personal webpages: http://www-star.st-and.ac.uk/~vw8/index.html
PhD supervision
- Zoe Harvey
- Sahyadri Krishna
Selected publications
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Open access
A multiwavelength evaluation of AGN in the post-starburst phase
Luo, Y., Rowlands, K., Alatalo, K., Lanz, L., Heckman, T., Sazonova, E., Patil, P., Almaini, O., D'Onofrio, V. R., French, K. D., Otter, J., Petric, A. O., Roy, N., Skarbinski, M., Spilker, J. S., Verrico, M. E. & Wild, V., 20 Mar 2026, In: Astrophysical Journal. 1000, 1, 17 p., 24.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Embers I: low-redshift post-starburst galaxies are frequently depleted in molecular gas relative to star-forming progenitors
Rasmussen, B. F., Jiménez-Donaire, M. J., Ellison, S. L., Wild, V., Rowlands, K., Huang, Q., Wang, J., Yang, D., Wilkinson, S., Ledger, B., Brown, T., Leung, H.-H. & Byrne-Mamahit, S., 1 May 2026, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 548, 1, 27 p., stag485.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Linking enhanced star formation and quenching to faint tidal features in galaxies
Gordon, A. J., Ferguson, A. M. N., Mann, R. G. & Wild, V., 1 Feb 2026, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 545, 4, 15 p., staf2223.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
PRIMER & JADES reveal an abundance of massive quiescent galaxies at 2 < z < 5
Stevenson, S. D., Carnall, A. C., Leung, H.-H., Taylor, E., Cullen, F., Dunlop, J. S., McLeod, D. J., McLure, R. J., Begley, R., Arellano-Córdova, K. Z., Barrufet, L., Bondestam, C., Donnan, C. T., Ellis, R. S., Grogin, N. A., Koekemoer, A. M., Liu, F.-Y., Pérez-González, P. G., Rowlands, K. & Sanders, R. L. & 5 others, , 1 Jan 2026, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 545, 3, 23 p., staf2087.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
The JWST EXCELS survey: insights into the nature of quenching at cosmic noon
Skarbinski, M., Rowlands, K., Alatalo, K., Wild, V., Carnall, A. C., Almaini, O., Maltby, D., de Lisle, T., Heckman, T., Begley, R., Cullen, F., Dunlop, J. S., Hewitt, G., Leung, H.-H., McLeod, D., McLure, R., Otter, J. A., Patil, P., Petric, A. & Shapley, A. E. & 2 others, , 1 Apr 2026, In: Astrophysical Journal. 1000, 2, 17 p., 191.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
The role of mergers and rejuvenation in the buildup of the quiescent population at cosmic noon
Harrold, J. E., Almaini, O., Pearce, F. R., Yates, R. M., Maltby, D., Rowlands, K., Wild, V., Skarbinski, M. & de Lisle, T., 1 Jan 2026, In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 545, 3, 11 p., staf2191.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
An intervention addressing impostor phenomenon in undergraduate physics and astronomy
Bottomley, E., Miles, P., Kohnle, A., Wild, V. & Mavor, K. I., 16 Apr 2025, In: Education Sciences. 15, 4, p. 1-15 15 p., 498.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Cool gas in the circumgalactic medium of massive post starburst galaxies
Harvey, Z., Krishna, S., Wild, V., Tojeiro, R. & Hewett, P., 20 Nov 2025, In: The Open Journal of Astrophysics. 8, 18 p., 147836.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Inferring redshift and galaxy properties via a multi-task neural net with probabilistic outputs: an application to simulated MOONS spectra
Ginolfi, M., Mannucci, F., Belfiore, F., Marconi, A., Boardman, N., Pozzetti, L., Bolzonella, M., Di Teodoro, E., Cresci, G., Wild, V., Rodrigues, M., Maiolino, R., Cirasuolo, M. & Oliva, E., Jan 2025, In: Astronomy & Astrophysics. 693, 18 p., A73.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Low redshift post-starburst galaxies host abundant HI reservoirs
Ellison, S. L., Huang, Q., Yang, D., Wang, J., Wild, V., Rasmussen, B. F., Jimenez-Donaire, M.-J., Rowlands, K., Wilkinson, S., Brown, T. & Leung, H.-H., 8 Jul 2025, In: The Open Journal of Astrophysics. 8, 18 p., 141941.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review