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Miguel Morales

Associate Professor

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I am an observational cosmologist, and work primarily on measurements of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) as the universe's first stars and galaxies burned away the primordial neutral hydrogen fog ~13 billion years ago. Cosmology with highly redshifted 21 cm radio emission is one of the grand challenges of modern astrophysics, and in the last astrophysics decadal review was named the highest priority in radio astronomy. 

My Radio Cosmology group at the University of Washington is recognized as an international leader in developing the bespoke instruments and precision data analysis techniques required to reveal the faint cosmological radio signal. We are builders of the Murchison Widefield Array in western Australia and the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array in South Africa, and have developed one of the four major EoR analysis pipelines. 

EoR analysis combines exquisite calibration and precision requirements with large data volumes—we have collected more than 6 petaBytes of MWA data. Our analyses are known for their robustness, and we have pioneered a number of calibration and software development techniques that are being replicated in the other international analysis efforts.