Dr Steven Parsons
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Lecturer in Astrophysics
Astronomy L2 Year Tutor
+44 114 222 3558
Full contact details
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
F37
Hicks Building
Hounsfield Road
葫芦影业
S3 7RH
- Profile
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I am an Ernest Rutherford Fellow in the astronomy group at the University of 葫芦影业. I earned my MPhys in Physics with Astrophysics at the University of Kent in 2008, followed by a PhD at the University of Warwick under the supervision of Professor Tom Marsh.
After receiving my PhD in 2012 I moved to the Universidad de Valparaiso in Chile as an ESO/Comite Mixto Post Doctoral research associate. One year into this postion I was awarded a 3 year FONDECYT Post Doctoral fellowship at Valparaiso, which I finished in 2016.
I moved to 葫芦影业 in July 2016 as part of a 1 year Post Doc with Prof. Vik Dhillon working on the HiPERCAM project, before starting a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship in 2017. Two years into my Leverhulme Fellowship I was awarded a STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship.
- Research interests
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My research involves the study of white dwarfs, the incredibly dense burnt out embers of former stars. White dwarfs have masses similar to the Sun, but are only the size of the Earth.
Many are found in binary systems with other stars or white dwarfs, a few of which are aligned with the Earth such that one star passes in front of the other, causing regular eclipses.
I use a range of telescopes from around the world to search for and study these eclipsing binaries in order to better understand the structure and composition of white dwarfs as well as the evolution and fate of these binaries.
There is a theoretical upper limit to the mass of a white dwarf, known as the Chandrasekhar mass. If a white dwarf gains mass (e.g. from a binary companion) and reaches this limit it will blow up in an explosion known as a Type Ia supernova, visible from across the Universe.
These supernovae are extremely useful to cosmologists since their distances can be reliably measured, leading to the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe and the existence of dark energy.
However, how the white dwarf gains the mass, and the nature of its binary companion are not well known.
I search for the progenitors of type Ia supernovae in our own Galaxy to better understand how they are created and whether or not the existence of multiple formation channels could ultimately limit their use as distance indicators.
- Publications
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Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
Journal articles
All publications
Journal articles
- . Astronomy & Astrophysics, 686, A221-A221.
- . Astronomy & Astrophysics, 686, A61-A61.
- . Astronomy & Astrophysics, 683, A170-A170.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 529(4), 4840-4855.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 518(4), 5123-5139.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 517(2), 2867-2875.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 516(1), 1501-1501.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 513(2), 3090-3103.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 256(2).
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.
- . Nature Astronomy.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . The Astrophysical Journal, 905(1).
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 498(2), 2662-2662.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.
- . Nature, 585(7825), 354-355.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 496(4), 5233-5242.
- . Astronomy & Astrophysics.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Nature Astronomy.
- . Astronomy & Astrophysics, 634.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 490(1), 202-218.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 488(4), 5852-5853.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 486(4), 5535-5551.
- . Nature Astronomy, 3, 553-560.
- . Science, 364(6435), 66-69.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 483(1), 1080-1103.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 481(2), 2721-2735.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 481(1), 1083-1096.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 477(4), 5646-5656.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 475(3), 2994-3003.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Letters of the Astrophysical Journal, 852(2).
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 473(1), 693-709.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 472(4), 4193-4203.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 472(3), 2800-2807.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 471(1), 976-986.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 470(4), 4473-4492.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 468(3), 2910-2922.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 467(1), 597-618.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 467(1), 1024-1032.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 3, 3213-3224..
- . The Astrophysical Journal, 839(1).
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 466(2), 1575-1581.
- . Nature Astronomy, 1.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 465(3), 2849-2861.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 463(2), 2125-2136.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 460(4), 3873-3887.
- . Nature, 537, 374-377.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 459(4), 4518-4526.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 458(4), 3808-3819.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 457(4), 3867-3877.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 458(3), 2793-2812.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 456(3), 2446-2456.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 455(4), 4467-4478.
- High proper motion objects toward the Inner Milky way: Characterization of newly identified nearby stars from the VISTA variables in the V铆a l谩ctea survey. Acta Astronomica, 66(3), 293-306.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 452(2), 1754-1763.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 451(3), 3237-3248.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 449(2), 2194-2204.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 451(1), 114-125.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 447(1), 691-697.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 448(1), 601-605.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 445(2), 1878-1884.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 445(2), 2106-2115.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 445(2), 1924-1931.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 443(4), 3174-3207.
- . Astronomy & Astrophysics, 568, L9-L9.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 438(4), 3399-3408.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 438(1), L91-L95.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 437(2), 1511-1518.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 437(1), 475-488.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 436(1), 241-252.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 432(2), 1632-1639.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 429(1), 256-268.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 426(3), 1950-1958.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 424(1), 333-347.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 423(2), 1437-1449.
- . The Astrophysical Journal, 751(1), L4-L4.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 422(1), 469-477.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, no-no.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, no-no.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 419(1), 817-826.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 419, 304-313.
- . The Astrophysical Journal, 735(2), L30-L30.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 412(4), 2563-2570.
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- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 415(3), 2025-2041.
- . Astronomy and Astrophysics, 521, L60-L60.
- . The Astrophysical Journal, 715(2), L109-L112.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 402(4), 2591-2608.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Nature.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Nature.
- Discovery of Dipolar Chromospheres in Two White Dwarfs. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Nature Astronomy.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- . The Astrophysical Journal, 800(2), L24-L24.
- . The Astrophysical Journal, 790(1), 28-28.
- . The Astronomical Journal, 146(3), 54-54.
- . The Astrophysical Journal, 768(2), 185-185.
- . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 407(4), 2362-2382.
- Spectroscopic and Photometric Periods of Six Ultracompact Accreting Binaries.
- WD1032+011, an inflated brown dwarf in an old eclipsing binary with a white dwarf.
- System parameters of three short period cataclysmic variable stars.
- Found: a rapidly spinning white dwarf in LAMOST J024048.51+195226.9.
Chapters
Conference proceedings papers
- . Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 10709, 10 June 2018 - 15 June 2018.
- . Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 10702, 10 June 2018 - 15 June 2018.
- Variable Emission from a Gaseous Disc around a Metal-Polluted White Dwarf. 19TH EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON WHITE DWARFS, Vol. 493 (pp 279-284)
- A Detailed Study of CSS 41177: an Eclipsing Double White Dwarf. 19TH EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON WHITE DWARFS, Vol. 493 (pp 313-318)
- Planets Around White Dwarf Binaries. 18TH EUROPEAN WHITE DWARF WORKSHOP, Vol. 469 (pp 451-+)
- . PLANETARY SYSTEMS BEYOND THE MAIN SEQUENCE: Proceedings of the International Conference
- . 17TH EUROPEAN WHITE DWARF WORKSHOP
Preprints
- Expanding the ultracompacts: gravitational wave-driven mass transfer in the shortest-period binaries with accretion disks.
- Analysis of optical spectroscopy and photometry of the type I X-ray bursting system UW CrB, arXiv.
- , arXiv.
- , arXiv.
- , arXiv.
- , arXiv.
- , arXiv.
- TIC 378898110: A Bright, Short-Period AM CVn Binary in TESS.
- , arXiv.
- An Eclipsing 47 minute Double White Dwarf Binary at 400 pc.
- , Research Square Platform LLC.
- Discovery of Dipolar Chromospheres in Two White Dwarfs.
- JWST detection of heavy neutron capture elements in a compact object merger.
- A 5.3-minute-period pulsing white dwarf in a binary detected from radio to X-rays.
- Photometric follow-up of 43 new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries from the ZTF survey, arXiv.
- Two decades of optical timing of the shortest-period binary star system HM Cancri, arXiv.
- , Research Square Platform LLC.
- , arXiv.
- , arXiv.
- Characterising eclipsing white dwarf M dwarf binaries from multi-band eclipse photometry, arXiv.
- The post-common-envelope binary central star of the planetary nebula Ou 5: a doubly-eclipsing post-red-giant-branch system, arXiv.
- To be or not to be a black hole: detailed binary population models as a sanity check.
- Optical detection of the rapidly spinning white dwarf in V1460 Her, arXiv.
- Found: a rapidly spinning white dwarf in LAMOST J024048.51+195226.9, arXiv.
- HiPERCAM: a quintuple-beam, high-speed optical imager on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias, arXiv.
- System parameters of three short period cataclysmic variable stars, arXiv.
- Magnetic white dwarfs in post-common-envelope binaries, arXiv.
- WD1032+011, an inflated brown dwarf in an old eclipsing binary with a white dwarf, arXiv.
- Spectroscopic and Photometric Periods of Six Ultracompact Accreting Binaries, arXiv.
- A pulsating white dwarf in an eclipsing binary, arXiv.
- The evolutionary status of Cataclysmic Variables: Eclipse modelling of 15 systems, arXiv.
- Accurate mass and radius determinations of a cool subdwarf in an eclipsing binary, arXiv.
- , arXiv.
- The direct detection of the irradiated brown dwarf in the white dwarf - brown dwarf binary SDSS J141126.20+200911.1, arXiv.
- The scatter of the M dwarf mass-radius relationship, arXiv.
- First light with HiPERCAM on the GTC, arXiv.
- A 15.7-Minute AM CVn Binary Discovered in K2, arXiv.
- High-Speed Photometry of Gaia14aae: An Eclipsing AM CVn That Challenges Formation Models, arXiv.
- The first sub-70 minute non-interacting WD-BD system: EPIC212235321, arXiv.
- A search for optical bursts from the repeating fast radio burst FRB 121102, arXiv.
- Testing the white dwarf mass-radius relationship with eclipsing binaries, arXiv.
- Two white dwarfs in ultrashort binaries with detached, eclipsing, likely substellar companions detected by K2, arXiv.
- , arXiv.
- Using large spectroscopic surveys to test the double degenerate model for Type Ia supernovae, arXiv.
- SDSS J105754.25+275947.5: a period-bounce eclipsing cataclysmic variable with the lowest-mass donor yet measured, arXiv.
- Hunting For Eclipses: High Speed Observations of Cataclysmic Variables, arXiv.
- A radio pulsing white dwarf binary star, arXiv.
- Long-term eclipse timing of white dwarf binaries: an observational hint of a magnetic mechanism at work, arXiv.
- The crowded magnetosphere of the post common envelope binary QS Virginis, arXiv.
- A large, long-lived structure near the trojan L5 point in the post common-envelope binary SDSS J1021+1744, arXiv.
- PHL 1445: An eclipsing cataclysmic variable with a substellar donor near the period minimum, arXiv.
- Fourteen new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries from the SDSS and Catalina surveys, arXiv.
- , arXiv.
- Discovery of ZZ Cetis in detached white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries, arXiv.
- Testing the planetary models of HU Aquarii, arXiv.
- The substellar companion in the eclipsing white dwarf binary SDSS J141126.20+200911.1, arXiv.
- , arXiv.
- Precise parameters for both white dwarfs in the eclipsing binary CSS 41177, arXiv.
- Timing variations in the secondary eclipse of NN Ser, arXiv.
- Optical transmission photometry of the highly inflated exoplanet WASP-17b, arXiv.
- The planets around NN Ser: still there, arXiv.
- A magnetic white dwarf in a detached eclipsing binary, arXiv.
- The not-so-massive black hole in the microquasar GRS1915+105, arXiv.
- Eclipsing Post Common Envelope Binaries from the Catalina Surveys, arXiv.
- An accurate mass and radius measurement for an ultracool white dwarf, arXiv.
- A Radial Velocity Study of CTCV J1300-3052, arXiv.
- A J-band detection of the donor star in the dwarf nova OY Carinae, and an optical detection of its `iron curtain', arXiv.
- A precision study of two eclipsing white dwarf plus M dwarf binaries, arXiv.
- The shortest period detached white dwarf + main-sequence binary, arXiv.
- Cataclysmic Variables below the Period Gap: Mass Determinations of 14 Eclipsing Systems, arXiv.
- The Planets around the Post-Common Envelope Binary NN Serpentis, arXiv.
- Two planets orbiting the recently formed post-common envelope binary NN Serpentis, arXiv.
- Orbital Period Variations in Eclipsing Post Common Envelope Binaries, arXiv.
- Precise mass and radius values for the white dwarf and low mass M dwarf in the pre-cataclysmic binary NN Serpentis, arXiv.