Overview
Background
Professor Tamara Davis is an astrophysicist who studies the elusive “dark energy” that’s accelerating the universe. She completed her PhD in 2004 at the University of New South Wales on theoretical cosmology and black holes, then worked on supernova cosmology in two postdoctoral fellowships, the first at the Australian National University (collaborating with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) and the second at the University of Copenhagen. In 2008 she moved to Queensland to join the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey team working on mapping the galaxies in the Universe. She led the Dark Theme within the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics, is now leading the OzDES survey -- working with the international Dark Energy Survey, and working with working with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument project. As of 2024 she is Deputy Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery.
Her accolades include the Astronomical Society of Australia's Louise Webster Medal for early career research impact, the L'Oréal Women in Science Fellowship for Australia, the Australian Institute of Physics Women in Physics Lectureship, the Australian Academy of Science’s Nancy Millis Medal for outstanding female leadership in science, an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, the Astronomical Society of Australia's Ellery Lectureship, and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
Availability
- Professor Tamara Davis is:
- Not available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of New South Wales
Research interests
-
Cosmology, Dark Energy, and Dark Matter
Using supernovae, gravitational waves, and the large-scale structure of the Universe to learn about fundamental physics. On a quest to map all the galaxies in the observable Universe.
Works
Search Professor Tamara Davis’s works on UQ eSpace
2020
Journal Article
Preliminary target selection for the DESI Quasar (QSO) sample
Yèche, Christophe, Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie, Claveau, Charles-Antoine, Brooks, David D., Chaussidon, Edmond, Davis, Tamara M., Dawson, Kyle S., Dey, Arjun, Duan, Yutong, Eftekharzadeh, Sarah, Eisenstein, Daniel J., Gaztañaga, Enrique, Kehoe, Robert, Landriau, Martin, Lang, Dustin, Levi, Michael E., Meisner, Aaron M., Myers, Adam D., Newman, Jeffrey A., Poppett, Claire, Prada, Francisco, Raichoor, Anand, Schlegel, David J., Schubnell, Michael, Staten, Ryan, Tarlé, Gregory and Zhou, Rongpu (2020). Preliminary target selection for the DESI Quasar (QSO) sample. Research Notes of the AAS, 4 (10), 179. doi: 10.3847/2515-5172/abc01a
2020
Journal Article
Discovery of a candidate binary supermassive black hole in a periodic quasar from circumbinary accretion variability
Liao, Wei-Ting, Chen, Yu-Ching, Liu, Xin, Holgado, A Miguel, Guo, Hengxiao, Gruendl, Robert, Morganson, Eric, Shen, Yue, Davis, Tamara, Kessler, Richard, Martini, Paul, McMahon, Richard G, Allam, Sahar, Annis, James, Avila, Santiago, Banerji, Manda, Bechtol, Keith, Bertin, Emmanuel, Brooks, David, Buckley-Geer, Elizabeth, Rosell, Aurelio Carnero, Kind, Matias Carrasco, Carretero, Jorge, Castander, Francisco Javier, Cunha, Carlos, D’Andrea, Chris, da Costa, Luiz, Davis, Christopher, De Vicente, Juan ... Walker, Alistair (2020). Discovery of a candidate binary supermassive black hole in a periodic quasar from circumbinary accretion variability. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 500 (3), 4025-4041. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa3055
2020
Journal Article
The host galaxies of 106 rapidly evolving transients discovered by the Dark Energy Survey
Wiseman, P., Pursiainen, M., Childress, M., Swann, E., Smith, M., Galbany, L., Lidman, C., Davis, T. M., Gutierrez, C. P., Moller, A., Thomas, B. P., Frohmaier, C., Foley, R. J., Hinton, S. R., Kelsey, L., Kessler, R., Lewis, G. F., Sako, M., Scolnic, D., Sullivan, M., Vincenzi, M., Abbott, T. M. C., Aguena, M., Allam, S., Annis, J., Bertin, E., Bhargava, S., Brooks, D., Burke, D. L. ... Walker, A. R. (2020). The host galaxies of 106 rapidly evolving transients discovered by the Dark Energy Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 498 (2), 2575-2593. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa2474
2020
Journal Article
Optical follow-up of gravitational wave triggers with DECam during the first two LIGO/VIRGO observing runs
Herner, K., Annis, J., Brout, D., Soares-Santos, M., Kessler, R., Sako, M., Butler, R., Doctor, Z., Palmese, A., Allam, S., Tucker, D. L., Sobreira, F., Yanny, B., Diehl, H. T., Frieman, J., Glaeser, N., Garcia, A., Sherman, N. F., Bechtol, K., Berger, E., Chen, H. Y., Conselice, C. J., Cook, E., Cowperthwaite, P. S., Davis, T. M., Drlica-Wagner, A., Farr, B., Finley, D., Foley, R. J. ... Zhang, Y. (2020). Optical follow-up of gravitational wave triggers with DECam during the first two LIGO/VIRGO observing runs. Astronomy and Computing, 33 100425, 100425. doi: 10.1016/j.ascom.2020.100425
2020
Journal Article
Constraints on the physical properties of GW190814 through simulations based on DECam follow-up observations by the dark energy survey
Morgan, R., Soares-Santos, M., Annis, J., Herner, K., Garcia, A., Palmese, A., Drlica-Wagner, A., Kessler, R., García-Bellido, J., Bachmann, T. G., Sherman, N., Allam, S., Bechtol, K., Bom, C. R., Brout, D., Butler, R. E., Butner, M., Cartier, R., Chen, H., Conselice, C., Cook, E., Davis, T. M., Doctor, Z., Farr, B., Figueiredo, A. L., Finley, D. A., Foley, R. J., Galarza, J. Y., Gill, M. S. S. ... Tarle, G. (2020). Constraints on the physical properties of GW190814 through simulations based on DECam follow-up observations by the dark energy survey. The Astrophysical Journal, 901 (1) 83, 83. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/abafaa
2020
Journal Article
A statistical standard siren measurement of the Hubble constant from the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave compact object merger GW190814 and Dark Energy Survey Galaxies
Palmese, A., deVicente, J., Pereira, M. E. S., Annis, J., Hartley, W., Herner, K., Soares-Santos, M., Crocce, M., Huterer, D., Magana Hernandez, I., Garcia, A., Garcia-Bellido, J., Gschwend, J., Holz, D. E., Kessler, R., Lahav, O., Morgan, R., Nicolaou, C., Conselice, C., Foley, R. J., Gill, M. S. S., Abbott, T. M. C., Aguena, M., Allam, S., Avila, S., Bechtol, K., Bertin, E., Bhargava, S., Brooks, D. ... Zuntz, J. (2020). A statistical standard siren measurement of the Hubble constant from the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave compact object merger GW190814 and Dark Energy Survey Galaxies. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 900 (2) L33, 1-11. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/abaeff
2020
Journal Article
Are the spiral arms in the MWC 758 protoplanetary disc driven by a companion inside the cavity?
Calcino, Josh, Christiaens, Valentin, Price, Daniel J., Pinte, Christophe, Davis, Tamara M., van der Marel, Nienke and Cuello, Nicolás (2020). Are the spiral arms in the MWC 758 protoplanetary disc driven by a companion inside the cavity?. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 498 (1), 639-650. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa2468
2020
Journal Article
The impact of spectroscopic incompleteness in direct calibration of redshift distributions for weak lensing surveys
Hartley, W. G., Chang, C., Samani, S., Carnero Rosell, A., Davis, T. M., Hoyle, B., Gruen, D., Asorey, J., Gschwend, J., Lidman, C., Kuehn, K., King, A., Rau, M. M., Wechsler, R. H., DeRose, J., Hinton, S. R., Whiteway, L., Abbott, T. M. C., Aguena, M., Allam, S., Annis, J., Avila, S., Bernstein, G. M., Bertin, E., Bridle, S. L., Brooks, D., Burke, D. L., Kind, M. Carrasco, Carretero, J. ... Wilkinson, R. D. (2020). The impact of spectroscopic incompleteness in direct calibration of redshift distributions for weak lensing surveys. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 496 (4), 4769-4786. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa1812
2020
Journal Article
Dark Energy Survey year 1 results: cosmological constraints from cluster abundances and weak lensing
Abbott, T. M. C., Aguena, M., Alarcon, A., Allam, S., Allen, S., Annis, J., Avila, S., Bacon, D., Bechtol, K., Bermeo, A., Bernstein, G. M., Bertin, E., Bhargava, S., Bocquet, S., Brooks, D., Brout, D., Buckley-Geer, E., Burke, D. L., Rosell, A. Carnero, Kind, M. Carrasco, Carretero, J., Castander, F. J., Cawthon, R., Chang, C., Chen, X., Choi, A., Costanzi, M., Crocce, M., da Costa, L. N. ... Zuntz, J. (2020). Dark Energy Survey year 1 results: cosmological constraints from cluster abundances and weak lensing. Physical Review D, 102 (2) 023509. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.102.023509
2020
Journal Article
OzDES multi-object fibre spectroscopy for the Dark Energy Survey: results and second data release
Lidman, C., Tucker, B. E., Davis, T. M., Uddin, S. A., Asorey, J., Bolejko, K., Brout, D., Calcino, J., Carollo, D., Carr, A., Childress, M., Hoormann, J. K., Foley, R. J., Galbany, L., Glazebrook, K., Hinton, S. R., Kessler, R., Kim, A. G., King, A., Kremin, A., Kuehn, K., Lagattuta, D., Lewis, G. F., Macaulay, E., Malik, U., March, M., Martini, P., Möller, A., Mudd, D. ... Wilkinson, R. D. (2020). OzDES multi-object fibre spectroscopy for the Dark Energy Survey: results and second data release. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 496 (1), 19-35. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa1341
2020
Journal Article
Studying Type II supernovae as cosmological standard candles using the Dark Energy Survey
de Jaeger, T., Galbany, L., González-Gaitán, S., Kessler, R., Filippenko, A. V., Förster, F., Hamuy, M., Brown, P. J., Davis, T. M., Gutiérrez, C. P., Inserra, C., Lewis, G. F., Möller, A., Scolnic, D., Smith, M., Brout, D., Carollo, D., Foley, R. J., Glazebrook, K., Hinton, S. R., Macaulay, E., Nichol, B., Sako, M., Sommer, N. E., Tucker, B. E., Abbott, T. M. C., Aguena, M., Allam, S., Annis, J. ... Wilkinson, R. (2020). Studying Type II supernovae as cosmological standard candles using the Dark Energy Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 495 (4), 4860-4892. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa1402
2020
Journal Article
Weak lensing of type Ia supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey
Macaulay, E., Bacon, D., Nichol, R. C., Davis, T. M., Elvin-Poole, J., Brout, D., Carollo, D., Glazebrook, K., Hinton, S. R., Lewis, G. F., Lidman, C., Möller, A., Sako, M., Scolnic, D., Smith, M., Sommer, N. E., Tucker, B. E., Abbott, T. M. C., Aguena, M., Annis, J., Avila, S., Bertin, E., Bhargava, S., Brooks, D., Burke, D. L., Rosell, A. Carnero, Kind, M. Carrasco, Carretero, J., Castander, F. J. ... Weller, J. (2020). Weak lensing of type Ia supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 496 (3), 4051-4059. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa1852
2020
Journal Article
Supernova siblings: assessing the consistency of properties of type Ia supernovae that share the same parent galaxies
Scolnic, D., Smith, M., Massiah, A., Wiseman, P., Brout, D., Kessler, R., Davis, T. M., Foley, R. J., Galbany, L., Hinton, S. R., Hounsell, R., Kelsey, L., Lidman, C., Macaulay, E., Morgan, R., Nichol, R. C., Möller, A., Popovic, B., Sako, M., Sullivan, M., Thomas, B. P., Tucker, B. E., Abbott, T. M.C., Aguena, M., Allam, S., Annis, J., Avila, S., Bechtol, K., Bertin, E. ... Wilkinson, R. (2020). Supernova siblings: assessing the consistency of properties of type Ia supernovae that share the same parent galaxies. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 896 (1) L13, L13. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab8735
2020
Journal Article
The mystery of photometric twins DES17X1boj and DES16E2bjy
Pursiainen, M., Gutierrez, C. P., Wiseman, P., Childress, M., Smith, M., Frohmaier, C., Angus, C., Segura, N. Castro, Kelsey, L., Sullivan, M., Galbany, L., Nugent, P., Bassett, B. A., Brout, D., Carollo, D., D'Andrea, C. B., Davis, T. M., Foley, R. J., Grayling, M., Hinton, S. R., Inserra, C., Kessler, R., Lewis, G. F., Lidman, C., Macaulay, E., March, M., Moller, A., Muller, T., Scolnic, D. ... Wester, W. (2020). The mystery of photometric twins DES17X1boj and DES16E2bjy. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 494 (4), 5576-5589. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa995
2020
Journal Article
DES16C3cje: a low-luminosity, long-lived supernova
Gutiérrez, C. P., Sullivan, M., Martinez, L., Bersten, M. C., Inserra, C., Smith, M., Anderson, J. P., Pan, Y.-C., Pastorello, A., Galbany, L., Nugent, P., Angus, C. R., Barbarino, C., Carollo, D., Chen, T.-W., Davis, T. M., Valle, M. Della, Foley, R. J., Fraser, M., Frohmaier, C., González-Gaitán, S., Gromadzki, M., Kankare, E., Kokotanekova, R., Kollmeier, J., Lewis, G. F., Magee, M. R., Maguire, K., Möller, A. ... Wilkinson, R. (2020). DES16C3cje: a low-luminosity, long-lived supernova. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 496 (1), 95-110. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa1452
2020
Journal Article
Supernova host galaxies in the dark energy survey: I. Deep coadds, photometry, and stellar masses
Wiseman, P., Smith, M., Childress, M., Kelsey, L., Möller, A., Gupta, R. R., Swann, E., Angus, C. R., Brout, D., Davis, T. M., Foley, R. J., Frohmaier, C., Galbany, L., Gutiérrez, C. P., Inserra, C., Kessler, R., Lewis, G. F., Lidman, C., Macaulay, E., Nichol, R. C., Pursiainen, M., Sako, M., Scolnic, D., Sommer, N. E., Sullivan, M., Tucker, B. E., Abbott, T. M. C., Aguena, M., Allam, S. ... Wilkinson, R. D. (2020). Supernova host galaxies in the dark energy survey: I. Deep coadds, photometry, and stellar masses. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 495 (4), 4040-4060. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa1302
2020
Journal Article
First cosmology results using type Ia supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey: the effect of host galaxy properties on supernova luminosity
Smith, M., Sullivan, M., Wiseman, P., Kessler, R., Scolnic, D., Brout, D., D’Andrea, C. B., Davis, T. M., Foley, R. J., Frohmaier, C., Galbany, L., Gupta, R. R., Gutiérrez, C. P., Hinton, S. R., Kelsey, L., Lidman, C., Macaulay, E., Möller, A., Nichol, R. C., Nugent, P., Palmese, A., Pursiainen, M., Sako, M., Swann, E., Thomas, R. C., Tucker, B. E., Vincenzi, M., Carollo, D., Lewis, G. F. ... Walker, A. R. (2020). First cosmology results using type Ia supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey: the effect of host galaxy properties on supernova luminosity. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 494 (3), 4426-4447. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa946
2020
Journal Article
Cosmology with phase 1 of the square kilometre array red book 2018: technical specifications and performance forecasts
Bacon, David J., Battye, Richard A., Bull, Philip, Camera, Stefano, Ferreira, Pedro G., Harrison, Ian, Parkinson, David, Pourtsidou, Alkistis, Santos, Mário G., Wolz, Laura, Abdalla, Filipe, Akrami, Yashar, Alonso, David, Andrianomena, Sambatra, Ballardini, Mario, Bernal, José Luis, Bertacca, Daniele, Bengaly, Carlos A. P., Bonaldi, Anna, Bonvin, Camille, Brown, Michael L., Chapman, Emma, Chen, Song, Chen, Xuelei, Cunnington, Steven, Davis, Tamara M., Dickinson, Clive, Fonseca, José, Grainge, Keith ... Zuntz, Joe (2020). Cosmology with phase 1 of the square kilometre array red book 2018: technical specifications and performance forecasts. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 37 e007, 1-31. doi: 10.1017/pasa.2019.51
2020
Journal Article
Standard siren speeds: improving velocities in gravitational-wave measurements of H0
Howlett, Cullan and Davis, Tamara M. (2020). Standard siren speeds: improving velocities in gravitational-wave measurements of H0. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 492 (3), 3803-3815. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa049
2020
Journal Article
BARRY and the BAO Model Comparison
Hinton, Samuel R., Howlett, Cullan and Davis, Tamara M. (2020). BARRY and the BAO Model Comparison. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 493 (3), 4078-4093. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa361
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Tamara Davis is:
- Not available for supervision
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
-
Doctor Philosophy
Cosmological Constraints with large-scale structure: from LambdaCDM to light relics
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
-
Doctor Philosophy
Weighing supermassive black holes with the Dark Energy Survey
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Benjamin Pope
-
Doctor Philosophy
Cosmology with the Dark Energy Survey
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
-
Doctor Philosophy
Galaxy motions with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Khaled Said Soliman
-
Doctor Philosophy
Using the motions of galaxies to probe fundamental physics
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
-
Doctor Philosophy
Fundamental Plane distances from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
-
Doctor Philosophy
Observing Naked-Eye Stars and their Planets with TESS
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Benjamin Pope
Completed supervision
-
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Cosmic echos: Reverberation mapping of high-redshift supermassive black holes
Principal Advisor
-
2021
Doctor Philosophy
Signatures of Companions in Transitional Discs: Spiral Arms, Cavities, and Dust Asymmetries
Principal Advisor
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Deciphering dark energy: The adventures of Steve, Barry, and Pippin.
Principal Advisor
-
2016
Doctor Philosophy
Echo hunting: using reverberation mapping of active galactic nuclei to probe black hole growth and cosmic expansion.
Principal Advisor
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Interpretable and Physically-Motivated Deep Learning Solutions for Large-Scale Structure Cosmology
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Rossana Ruggeri
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Completing the Puzzle: Unveiling Clues for Gravitational Wave Astrophysics and Cosmology with Simulations
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Whispers from the Big Bang-Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Power Spectra
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Quantum control in probing relativistic effects and thermodynamics
Associate Advisor
Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor Tamara Davis directly for media enquiries about:
- Astronomy
- Astrophysics
- Cosmology
- Dark energy
- Dark Matter
- Exploding stars
- Physics
- Quantum gravity
- Stars - astrophysics
- Supernovae (exploding stars)
- Universe
- Vacuum energy
Need help?
For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team: