Peter Mcgill

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  • Title
    Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Email
    mcgill5@llnl.gov
  • Phone
    (925) 424-5304
  • Organization
    PLS-PHYS-PHYSICS

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Astronomy & Astrophysics Analytics group, mainly working on gravitational microlensing constraints of dark matter. Before joining the lab, I was at UC Santa Cruz where I worked on various supernovae and transient survey infrastructure projects. I completed my PhD at the University of Cambridge in the UK where I led a team that directly measured the mass of a single white dwarf for the first time using astrometric microlensing.

Research Interests

  • Microlensing
  • Time-series inference methods
  • Transient surveys
  • Approximate Bayesian computation
  • Exoplanet Atmospheres
  • Supernovae
  • Transient survey infrastructure

Selected Press

Ph.D, Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK

MSci, Theoretical Physics, University College London, UK

Microlensing

Fardeen, J., McGill, P., et al 2023, Astrometric Microlensing by Primordial Black Holes with The Roman Space Telescope, ApJ, submitted. arXiv:2312.13249

Kaczmarek, Z., McGill, P., et al. 2023, Spatially resolved microlensing timescale distributions across the Galactic bulge with the VVV survey, MNRAS, submitted. arXiv:2312.11667

Pruett, K., et al., (including McGill, P.) 2023, Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter Simulations Using PopSyCLE, ApJ, submitted. arXiv:2211.06771

Perkins, S.E, McGill, P., et al., 2024, Disentangling the Black Hole Mass Spectrum with Photometric Microlensing Surveys. AJ, 961 179. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad09bf

McGill, P., et al. 2023. First semi-empirical test of the white dwarf mass-radius relationship using a single white dwarf via astrometric microlensing. MNRAS 520, 259–280. doi:10.1093/mnras/stac3532

Luberto, J., Martin, E.C., McGill, P., Leauthaud, A., Skemer, A.J., Lu, J.R. 2022. A Search for Predicted Astrometric Microlensing Events by Nearby Brown Dwarfs. AJ 164. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ac9a41

Kaczmarek, Z., McGill, P., et al. 2022, Dark lenses through the dust: parallax microlensing events in the VVV. MNRAS 514, 4845–4860. doi:10.1093/mnras/stac1507

Husseiniova, A., McGill, P., Smith, L.C., Evans, N.W., 2021, A microlensing search of 700 million VVV lightcurves. MNRAS, 506, 2482-2502, doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab1882

McGill, P., Everall, A., Boubert, D., Smith, L.C. 2020. Predictions of Gaia's prize microlensing events are flawed. MNRAS 498, L6–L10. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slaa118

McGill, P., Smith, L.C., Evans, N.W., Belokurov, V., Lucas, P.W. 2019. Ongoing astrometric microlensing events from VVV and Gaia. MNRAS 487, L7–L12. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slz073

McGill, P., Smith, L.C., Evans, N.W., Belokurov, V., Zhang, Z.H. 2019. Microlens mass determination for Gaia's predicted photometric events. MNRAS 483, 4210–4220. doi:10.1093/mnras/sty3344

McGill, P., Smith, L.C., Evans, N.W., Belokurov, V., Smart, R.L. 2018. A predicted astrometric microlensing event by a nearby white dwarf.  MNRAS 478, L29–L33. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/sly066

Exoplanets

Nixon, M.C., Welbanks, L., McGill, P., 2023, Methods for Incorporating Model Uncertainty into Exoplanet Atmospheric Analysis, AJ, submitted. arXiv:2310.03713

Challener, R.C., Welbanks, L., McGill, P. 2023, Bringing 2D Eclipse Mapping out of the Shadows with Leave-one-out Cross-validation, AJ, 166 251. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ad0366

Kempton, E.M.-R. et al., (including McGill, P.) 2023. A reflective, metal-rich atmosphere for GJ 1214b from its JWST phase curve, Nature, 620, 67-61. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06159-5

Welbanks, L., McGill, P., Line, M., Madhusudhan, N. 2023. On the Application of Bayesian Leave-one-out Cross-validation to Exoplanet Atmospheric Analysis. AJ 165. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/acab67

Transient Surveys

Ward, S.M., (including McGill, P.) 2023, Relative intrinsic scatter in hierarchical Type Ia supernova siblings analyses: Application to SNe 2021hpr, 1997bq & 2008fv in NGC 3147, ApJ, 956, 111. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acf7bb

Wang, Q., et al., (including McGill, P.), 2023. Flight of the Bumblebee: the Early Excess Flux of Type Ia Supernova 2023bee revealed by TESS, Swift, and Young Supernova Experiment Observations, submitted ApJ. arXiv:2305.03779

Wang, Q., et al., (including McGill, P.), 2023. A Low-Mass Helium Star Progenitor Model for the Type Ibn SN 2020nxt, submitted ApJ. arXiv:2305.05015

Yadavalli, S.K., et al., (including McGill, P.), 2023. SN 2022oqm: A Multi-peaked Calcium-rich Transient from a White Dwarf Binary Progenitor System, submitted ApJ. arxiv:2308.12991

Kilpatrick, C.D., et al., (including McGill, P.) 2023. Type II-P supernova progenitor star initial masses and SN 2020jfo: direct detection, light-curve properties, nebular spectroscopy, and local environment. MNRAS, 524, 2161-2185. doi:10.1093/mnras/stad1954

Coulter, D.A., Jones, D.O., McGill, P., et al., 2023. YSE-PZ: A Transient Survey Management Platform that Empowers the Human-in-the-loop, PASP 135, 1048. doi:10.1088/1538-3873/acd662

Fulton, M.D., et al., (including McGill, P.) 2023. The Optical Light Curve of GRB 221009A: The Afterglow and the Emerging Supernova. AJ 946, L22. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acc101

Davis, K.W., et al., (including McGill, P.) 2023. SN 2022ann: A Type Icn supernova from a dwarf galaxy that reveals helium in its circumstellar environment. MNRAS 523, 2530-2550. doi:10.1093/mnras/stad1433

Aleo, P.D., et al., (including McGill, P.) 2023. The Young Supernova Experiment Data Release 1 (YSE DR1): Light Curves and Photometric Classification of 1975 Supernovae. ApJS 266. 9.  doi:10.3847/1538-4365/acbfba

Other

Deconinck, B., McGill, P., Segal, B.L. 2017. The stability spectrum for elliptic solutions to the sine-Gordon equation. Physica D Nonlinear Phenomena 360, 17–35. doi:10.1016/j.physd.2017.08.010