Queen's 2015 Nobel Prize in PhysicsThe Physics Department congratulates Nicole Muchos on her top poster award at the 2026 CUPC conference. The conference was held at McMaster University from Oct. 15-18.
In Nicole's own words about her experience at the CUPC:
CUPC was an excellent opportunity for me to connect with so many talented undergraduate students and professionals from across the physics community. I especially enjoyed attending undergraduate oral presentations showcasing summer research, as well as keynote talks exploring a variety of fields within physics.
Poster title: Comparing the Milky Way to Simulated Galaxies
Figure: Steller Density-Age Relation in NIHAO-UHD.
NIHAO-UHD: Numerical Investigation of a Hundred Astrophysical Objects (NIHAO) is a suite of 100 cosmological zoom-in hydrodynamical simulations. NIHAO-UHD (Ultra High Definition) is a suite of higher-resolution versions of 6 NIHAO simulations.
This figure shows stellar density as a function of height above and below the stellar disk. Each panel shows the stellar density at different radii from the center. Exponential fits are shown using solid lines. The top three panels show a clear distinction between the stellar populations. Older stars are concentrated above and below the plane of the disk, while the younger stars are mostly along the plane. The bottom three panels show less distinct populations, and the groups begin to merge.