Research

I have been a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute of Astronomy and Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge since May 2022, having also held a similar role at the institutes between 2015 and 2020. I work in the group of Debora Sijacki, primarily on simulations of AGN feedback. I completed my MPhys (2010) at the University of Oxford and my Ph.D. thesis (2015) - Destroying galaxies (or not) with AGN feedback, un the supervision of Sergei Nayakshin, in the Theoretical Astrophysics group at the University of Leicester. I have also spent time at Leiden University where I worked with Joop Schaye on the early stages of the EAGLE project and have completed a PGCE at the University of Bath.

My research interests mainly focus on the co-evolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies, for which I often make use of supercomputers to perform hydrodynamical simulations. I have worked on a range of topics in this area with a particular focus on SMBH feedback in the form of jets. By simulating this process I hope to gain an understanding of how the jet interacts with the intra-cluster medium and in turn how the jets impact cooling within the cluster. I am also interested in SMBH feedback in the form of fast, wide angled outflows and understanding how they can impact upon the gas within the host galaxy and drive observed scaling relations.

Selected papers

• Recent Progress in Modeling the Macro- and Micro-Physics of Radio Jet Feedback in Galaxy Clusters; M. A. Bourne & H. -Y. K. Yang., Galaxies, vol. 11, issue 3, p. 73 (2023)
• AGN jet feedback on a moving mesh: gentle cluster heating by weak shocks and lobe disruption; M. A. Bourne & D. Sijacki., Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 506, Issue 1, pp.488-513 (2021)
• Blandford-Znajek jets in galaxy formation simulations: method and implementation; R. Y. Talbot, M. A. Bourne & D. Sijacki., Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 504, Issue 3, pp.3619-3650 (2021)
• AGN jet feedback on a moving mesh: lobe energetics and X-ray properties in a realistic cluster environment; M. A. Bourne et al., Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 490, Issue 1, p.343-349 (2019)
• Fast and energetic AGN-driven outflows in simulated dwarf galaxies; S. Koudmani et al., Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 484, Issue 2, p.2047-2066 (2019)
• Cold molecular outflows in the local Universe and their feedback effect on galaxies; A. Fluetsch et al., Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 483, Issue 4, p.4586-4614 (2019)
• AGN jet feedback on a moving mesh: cocoon inflation, gas flows and turbulence; M. A. Bourne & Debora Sijacki, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 472, Issue 4, p.4707-4735 (2017)
• Do AGN outflows quench or enhance star formation?; K. Zubovas & M. A. Bourne, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 468, Issue 4, p.4956-4967 (2017)
•  Simulating feedback from nuclear clusters: the impact of multiple sources, M. A. Bourne & C. Power, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Volume 456, Issue 1, p.L20-L24 (2016)
• The resolution bias: low-resolution feedback simulations are better at destroying galaxies, M. A. Bourne, K. Zubovas & S. Nayakshin, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 453, Issue 2, p.1829-1842 (2015)
• Black hole feedback in a multiphase interstellar medium, M. A. Bourne, S. Nayakshin & A. Hobbs, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 436, Issue 3, p.2346-2351 (2014)
• Inverse Compton X-ray signature of AGN feedback, M. A. Bourne & S. Nayakshin, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 441, Issue 4, p.3055-3064 (2013)

Career

2022-present: Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Cambridge

2020-2022: Software Developer, Cambridge Intelligence

2015-2020: Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Cambridge

2012-2015: Ph.D. in Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Leicester

Qualifications

Ph.D. - University of Leicester, 2015

PGCE - University of Bath, 2012

MPhys - University of Oxford, 2010