Maude Gull studies metal-poor massive stars in nearby galaxies. Metal-poor massive stars are at least eight times as heavy as our Sun and have a metallicity (a metal to an astronomer, is any element on the periodic table that is not Hydrogen or Helium) similar to that of the early universe. Across most of the universe, these stars dominate the light of star-forming galaxies and are progenitors to energetic and exotic astrophysical phenomena. Yet our knowledge of the life and death of these stars has been limited due to their rarity in the nearby universe. As a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley, Gull conducted the largest quantitative analysis of metal-poor massive stars in the less than 10% solar metallicity regime, laying the groundwork to address this uncertainty and developing the tools for future large-scale studies. As a Carnegie-Caltech Brinson Postdoctoral Fellow, she plans to undertake a much-needed systematic study of metal-poor massive stars and their environments by combining data from HST, JWST, Magellan, and Keck. Gull’s study will focus on constraining the effects of rotation and binarity (presence of a gravitationally-bound companion) on the life and death of metal-poor massive stars. Aiming to provide insights into stellar physics, the study of high-redshift star-forming galaxies discovered by JWST, and pathways leading to transients and exotic remnants.
Maude Gull
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