Neige Frankel studies the evolution of disk galaxies, using the Milky Way as a model organism at the intersection of cosmological simulations and observations of external galaxies. She is preoccupied with questions like: how did the Milky Way disk form and evolve and how do the spiral arms, central bar, and satellites affect the evolution of the Milky Way stellar disk?
Most recently, her research collaboration with Prof. Jo Bovy and Scott Tremaine led to publications on a range of topics related to the present dis-equilibrated state of our Galaxy. Our Galactic disk seems to be phase-mixing from a recent perturbation. The evidence for this perturbation is best seen in the vertical motion of the stars in the disk, in particular the phase-space plane, (i.e., vertical position – vertical velocity). The density of stars in that plane shows a clear structure that looks like a spiral, dubbed “the Gaia Snail” by the researcher community.
Neige Frankel and her collaborators have worked to quantify this feature to extract information about the perturbation of the disk, which could presumably be due to the passing of satellite(s) or other structures in or around our Galaxy. This work lead to two publications: Frankel, Bovy, Tremaine, Hogg (2023), Vertical motion in the Galactic disc: unwinding the snail, MNRAS), and Tremaine, Frankel, and Bovy (2023), The origin and fate of the Gaia phase-space snail, MNRAS.
Neige Frankel has been a postdoctoral fellow at CITA since September 2021. Prior to this, she completed her PhD work at IMPRS Heidelberg with the thesis: “Forward Modelling the Secular Evolution of the Milky Way Disk” under the supervision of Prof. Hans-Walter.
The Tremaine Fellowship is given annually in memory of Beatrice D. and Vincent J. Tremaine to honour their lifelong interest in mathematics, science, and learning. The award was initially established at CITA by Vincent Tremaine in memory of his wife Beatrice when their son, Scott Tremaine, was the first director.