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Durham University

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Staff Profile

Dr Alis Deason

ORCID profile

Personal web page

Royal Society URF in the Department of Physics
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 43283
Room number: OCW219
Room number: OCW224

(email at alis.j.deason@durham.ac.uk)

Research Groups

Department of Physics

Research Interests

  • Galactic Astronomy
  • Local Group Galaxies
  • Near Field Cosmology

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  • Cunningham, Emily C., Garavito-Camargo, Nicolas, Deason, Alis J., Johnston, Kathryn V., Erkal, Denis, Laporte, Chervin F. P., Besla, Gurtina, Luger, Rodrigo & Sanderson, Robyn E. (2020). Quantifying the Stellar Halo's Response to the LMC's Infall with Spherical Harmonics. The Astrophysical Journal 898(1): 4.
  • Grand, Robert J. J., Evans, N. Wyn, Deason, Alis J., Smith, Martin C., Fattahi, Azadeh, Sanders, Jason L. & Belokurov, Vasily (2020). The biggest Splash. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 494(3): 3880-3898.
  • Pakmor, Rüdiger, Marinacci, Federico, Gómez, Facundo A., Fragkoudi, Francesca, Fattahi, Azadeh, Deason, Alis J., Belokurov, Vasily, Kawata, Daisuke & Grand, Robert J.J. (2020). The dual origin of the Galactic thick disc and halo from the gas-rich Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage merger. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 497(2): 1603-1618.
  • Bish, Hannah V., Werk, Jessica K., Prochaska, J. Xavier, Rubin, Kate H. R., Zheng, Yong, O’Meara, John M. & Deason, Alis J. (2019). Galactic Gas Flows from Halo to Disk: Tomography and Kinematics at the Milky Way’s Disk–Halo Interface. The Astrophysical Journal 882(2): 76.
  • Cunningham, Emily C., Deason, Alis J., Rockosi, Constance M., Guhathakurta, Puragra, Jennings, Zachary G., Kirby, Evan N., Toloba, Elisa & Barro, Guillermo (2019). HALO7D I. The Line-of-sight Velocities of Distant Main-sequence Stars in the Milky Way Halo. The Astrophysical Journal 876(2): 124.
  • Cunningham, Emily C., Deason, Alis J., Sanderson, Robyn E., Sohn, Sangmo Tony, Anderson, Jay, Guhathakurta, Puragra, Rockosi, Constance M., van der Marel, Roeland P., Loebman, Sarah R. & Wetzel, Andrew (2019). HALO7D II: The Halo Velocity Ellipsoid and Velocity Anisotropy with Distant Main-sequence Stars. The Astrophysical Journal 879(2): 120.
  • Cautun, Marius, Deason, Alis J, Frenk, Carlos S & McAlpine, Stuart (2019). The aftermath of the Great Collision between our Galaxy and the Large Magellanic Cloud. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 483(2): 2185-2196.
  • Grand, Robert J J, Deason, Alis J, White, Simon D M, Simpson, Christine M, Gómez, Facundo A, Marinacci, Federico & Pakmor, Rüdiger (2019). The effects of dynamical substructure on Milky Way mass estimates from the high-velocity tail of the local stellar halo. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 487(1): L72-L76.
  • Lancaster, Lachlan, Koposov, Sergey E, Belokurov, Vasily, Evans, N Wyn & Deason, Alis J (2019). The Halo’s Ancient Metal-Rich Progenitor Revealed with BHB Stars. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 486(1): 378-389.
  • Deason, Alis J, Fattahi, Azadeh, Belokurov, Vasily, Evans, N Wyn, Grand, Robert J J, Marinacci, Federico & Pakmor, Rüdiger (2019). The local high-velocity tail and the Galactic escape speed. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 485(3): 3514-3526.
  • Callingham, Thomas M, Cautun, Marius, Deason, Alis J, Frenk, Carlos S, Wang, Wenting, Gómez, Facundo A, Grand, Robert J J, Marinacci, Federico & Pakmor, Ruediger (2019). The mass of the Milky Way from satellite dynamics. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 484(4): 5453-5467.
  • Werk, Jessica K., Rubin, K. H. R., Bish, H. V., Prochaska, J. X., Zheng, Y., O’Meara, J. M., Lenz, D., Hummels, C. & Deason, A. J. (2019). The Nature of Ionized Gas in the Milky Way Galactic Fountain. The Astrophysical Journal 887(1): 89.
  • Fattahi, Azadeh, Belokurov, Vasily, Deason, Alis J, Frenk, Carlos S, Gómez, Facundo A, Grand, Robert J J, Marinacci, Federico, Pakmor, Rüdiger & Springel, Volker (2019). The origin of galactic metal-rich stellar halo components with highly eccentric orbits. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 484(4): 4471-4483.
  • Belokurov, Vasily, Deason, Alis J, Erkal, Denis, Koposov, Sergey E, Carballo-Bello, Julio A, Smith, Martin C, Jethwa, Prashin & Navarrete, Camila (2019). The Pisces Plume and the Magellanic wake. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 488(1): L47-L52.
  • Deason, Alis J, Belokurov, Vasily & Sanders, Jason L (2019). The total stellar halo mass of the Milky Way. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 490(3): 3426-3439.
  • Sohn, Sangmo Tony, Watkins, Laura L., Fardal, Mark A., van der Marel, Roeland P., Deason, Alis J., Besla, Gurtina & Bellini, Andrea (2018). Absolute Hubble Space Telescope Proper Motion (HSTPROMO) of Distant Milky Way Globular Clusters: Galactocentric Space Velocities and the Milky Way Mass. The Astrophysical Journal 862(1): 52.
  • Deason, Alis J., Belokurov, Vasily, Koposov, Sergey E. & Lancaster, Lachlan (2018). Apocenter Pile-up: Origin of the Stellar Halo Density Break. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 862(1): L1.
  • Grand, R. J. J., Helly, J., Fattahi, A., Cautun, M., Cole, S., Cooper, A. P., Deason, A. J., Frenk, C., Gómez, F. A., Hunt, J. A. S., Marinacci, F., Pakmor, R., Simpson, C. M., Springel, V. & Xu, D. (2018). Aurigaia: mock Gaia DR2 stellar catalogues from the Auriga cosmological simulations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 481(2): 1726-1743.
  • Belokurov, V., Erkal, D., Evans, N W., Koposov, S. E. & Deason, A. J. (2018). Co-formation of the disc and the stellar halo★. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 478(1): 611-619.
  • Deason, A. J. , Belokurov, V. & Koposo,v S. E. (2018). Cresting the wave: proper motions of the Eastern Banded Structure. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 473(2): 2428-2433.
  • Shao, S., Cautun, M., Deason, A. J., Frenk, C. S. & Theuns, T. (2018). Evolution of LMC/M33-mass dwarf galaxies in the EAGLE simulation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 479(1): 284-296.
  • Bose, Sownak, Deason, Alis J. & Frenk, Carlos S. (2018). The Imprint of Cosmic Reionization on the Luminosity Function of Galaxies. The Astrophysical Journal 863(2): 123.
  • Deason, Alis J., Belokurov, Vasily & Koposov, Sergey E. (2018). To the Galactic Virial Radius with Hyper Suprime-Cam. The Astrophysical Journal 852(2): 118.
  • Belokurov, V., Deason, A. J., Koposov, S. E., Catelan, M., Erkal, D., Drake, A. J. & Evans, N. W. (2018). Unmixing the Galactic Halo with RR Lyrae tagging. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 477(2): 1472-1483.
  • Belokurov, V., Erkal, D., Deason, A.J., Koposov, S.E., De Angeli, F., Wyn Evans, D., Fraternali, F. & Mackey, D. (2017). Clouds, Streams and Bridges. Redrawing the blueprint of the Magellanic System with Gaia DR1. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 466(4): 4711-4730.
  • Deason, A.J., Belokurov, V., Erkal, D., Koposov, S.E. & Mackey, D. (2017). The Clouds are breaking: tracing the Magellanic system with Gaia DR1 Mira variables. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 467(3): 2636-2647.
  • Deason, Alis J., Belokurov, Vasily, Koposov, Sergey E., Gómez, Facundo A., Grand, Robert J., Marinacci, Federico & Pakmor, Rüdiger (2017). The slight spin of the old stellar halo. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 470(2): 1259-1273.
  • Cunningham, E.C., Deason, A.J., Guhathakurta, P., Rockosi, C.M., van der Marel, R.P., Toloba, E., Gilbert, K.M., Sohn, S.T. & Dorman, C.E. (2016). Isotropic at the Break? 3D Kinematics of Milky Way Halo Stars in the Foreground of M31. The Astrophysical Journal 820(1): 18.
  • Deason, A.J., Mao, Y.-Y. & Wechsler, R.H. (2016). The Eating Habits of Milky Way-mass Halos: Destroyed Dwarf Satellites and the Metallicity Distribution of Accreted Stars. The Astrophysical Journal 821(1): 5.
  • Wetzel, A.R., Deason, A.J. & Garrison-Kimmel, S. (2015). Satellite Dwarf Galaxies in a Hierarchical Universe: Infall Histories, Group Preprocessing, and Reionization. The Astrophysical Journal 807(1): 49.
  • Deason, A.J., Wetzel, A.R., Garrison-Kimmel, S. & Belokurov, V. (2015). Satellites of LMC-mass dwarfs: close friendships ruined by Milky Way mass haloes. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 453(4): 3568-3574.
  • Deason, A.J., Belokurov, V. & Weisz, D.R. (2015). The progenitors of the Milky Way stellar halo: big bricks favoured over little bricks. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters 448(1): L77-L81.
  • Pillepich, A., Vogelsberger, M., Deason, A., Rodriguez-Gomez, V., Genel, S., Nelson, D., Torrey, P., Sales, L.V., Marinacci, F., Springel, V., Sijacki, D. & Hernquist, L. (2014). Halo mass and assembly history exposed in the faint outskirts: the stellar and dark matter haloes of Illustris galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 444: 237-249.
  • Deason, A., Wetzel, A. & Garrison-Kimmel, S. (2014). Satellite Dwarf Galaxies in a Hierarchical Universe: The Prevalence of Dwarf-Dwarf Major Mergers. The Astrophysical Journal 794: 115.
  • Deason, A.J., Belokurov, V., Koposov, S.E. & Rockosi, C.M. (2014). Touching The Void: A Striking Drop in Stellar Halo Density Beyond 50 kpc. The Astrophysical Journal 787: 30.
  • Deason, A.J., Belokurov, V., Hamren, K.M., Koposov, S.E., Gilbert, K.M., Beaton, R.L., Dorman, C.E., Guhathakurta, P., Majewski, S.R. & Cunningham, E.C. (2014). TriAnd and its siblings: satellites of satellites in the Milky Way halo. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 444(4): 3975-3985.
  • Rashkov, V., Pillepich, A., Deason, A.J., Madau, P., Rockosi, C.M., Guedes, J. & Mayer, L. (2013). A ``Light,'' Centrally Concentrated Milky Way Halo? The Astrophysical Journal Letters 773: L32.
  • Deason, A.J., Belokurov, V., Evans, N.W. & Johnston, K.V. (2013). Broken and Unbroken: The Milky Way and M31 Stellar Halos. The Astrophysical Journal 763: 113.
  • Deason, A.J., Conroy, C., Wetzel, A.R. & Tinker, J.L. (2013). Stellar Mass-gap as a Probe of Halo Assembly History and Concentration: Youth Hidden among Old Fossils. The Astrophysical Journal 777: 154.
  • Deason, A.J., Auger, M.W., Belokurov, V. & Evans, N.W. (2013). The Dark Matter Halo Concentration and Stellar Initial Mass Function of a CASSOWARY Group. The Astrophysical Journal 773: 7.
  • Deason, A.J., Van der Marel, R.P., Guhathakurta, P., Sohn, S.T. & Brown, T.M. (2013). The Velocity Anisotropy of Distant Milky Way Halo Stars from Hubble Space Telescope Proper Motions. The Astrophysical Journal 766: 24.
  • Deason, A.J., Belokurov, V., Evans, N.W. & An, J. (2012). Broken degeneracies: the rotation curve and velocity anisotropy of the Milky Way halo. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 424: L44-L48.
  • Deason, A.J., Belokurov, V., Evans, N.W. & McCarthy, I.G. (2012). Elliptical Galaxy Masses Out to Five Effective Radii: The Realm of Dark Matter. The Astrophysical Journal 748: 2.
  • McCarthy, I.G., Font, A.S., Crain, R.A., Deason, A.J., Schaye, J. & Theuns, T. (2012). Global structure and kinematics of stellar haloes in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 420(3): 2245-2262.
  • An, J., Evans, N.W. & Deason, A.J. (2012). Mass estimators in the Gaia era. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 420: 2562-2568.
  • Deason, A.J., Belokurov, V., Evans, N.W., Koposov, S.E., Cooke, R.J., Peñarrubia, J., Laporte, C.F.P., Fellhauer, M., Walker, M.G. & Olszewski, E.W. (2012). The cold veil of the Milky Way stellar halo. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 425(4): 2840-2853.
  • Deason, A.J., Belokurov, V., Evans, N.W., Watkins, L.L. & Fellhauer, M. (2012). The stretching of Hercules. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 425: L101-L105.
  • Evans, N.W., An, J. & Deason, A.J. (2011). Accurate Mass Estimators for Navarro-Frenk-White Halos. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 730: L26.
  • Deason, A.J., McCarthy, I.G., Font, A.S., Evans, N.W., Frenk, C.S., Belokurov, V., Libeskind, N.I., Crain, R.A. & Theuns, T. (2011). Mismatch and misalignment: dark haloes and satellites of disc galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 415(3): 2607-2625.
  • Deason, A.J., Belokurov, V. & Evans, N.W. (2011). Rotation of halo populations in the Milky Way and M31. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 411: 1480-1494.
  • Deason, A.J., Belokurov, V. & Evans, N.W. (2011). The Milky Way stellar halo out to 40 kpc: squashed, broken but smooth. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 416: 2903-2915.
  • Pontzen, A., Deason, A., Governato, F., Pettini, M., Wadsley, J., Quinn, T., Brooks, A., Bellovary, J. & Fynbo, J.P.U. (2010). The nature of HIabsorbers in gamma-ray burst afterglows: clues from hydrodynamic simulations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 402: 1523-1535.
  • Cowley, S.W.H., Deason, A.J. & Bunce, E.J. (2008). Axi-symmetric models of auroral current systems in Jupiter's magnetosphere with predictions for the Juno mission. Annales Geophysicae 26(12): 4051-4074.

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