Conor M Byrne
Hi, I'm Conor, and I am a Prize Research Fellow in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group here at the 91影视破解版. In addition to my research, I also co-lead the Astronomy Group's outreach activities with our Mobile Planetarium. Prior to Warwick, I completed my PhD research jointly at and .
Research Interests
My primary interests lie in understanding the physics of stars, in particular the processes at work during the late stages of evolution and in binary star systems. Populations of stars which have or are currently interacting with a binary companion provide an excellent laboratory which can be used to test our understanding of the physics at work when stars interact, and in turn learn more about their role in driving chemical and galactic evolution across cosmic time.
Some of my recent projects have focused on the role that non-Solar scaled elemental abundances have on our interpretation of stellar populations. In the era of JWST, we are seeing distant galaxies in unprecedented detail. The use of Solar-scaled abundance patterns is a weakness in theoretical models, as there is strong observational evidence that low metallicity, early-Universe environments have a higher alpha-to-iron ratio than the local Universe. Using the binary population synthesis code BPASS, I am trying to quantify the importance of using appropriate stellar models and stellar spectra, and the uncertainties introduced when we change our model assumptions.
My PhD research advanced our understanding of the evolution of hot, low-mass stars, such as hot subdwarfs, with a focus on the role of atomic diffusion processes. These unusual stars, which can arise only through interactions in a binary system, are a valuable laboratory for studying the nature of binary interactions and mass transfer. My thesis is accessible on the TCD research repository. The science chapters of my thesis have also been published as peer-reviewed articles, listed below.
Publications
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Peer Reviewed
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First-author
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- Byrne, C.M., Stanway, E.R. & Eldridge, J.J. (2026). Re-calibrated analytic stellar evolution formulae for the main sequence: Extension to massive stars and variations in [alpha/Fe], Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in press.
- Byrne, C.M., Eldridge, J.J. & Stanway, E.R. (2025). , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 537, 2433鈥�2452.
- Byrne, C.M. & Stanway, E.R. (2023). , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 521, 4995-5012.
- Byrne, C.M., Stanway, E.R., Eldridge, J.J., McSwiney, L. & Townsend, O.T. (2022). , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 512, 5329-5338.
- Byrne, C.M., Stanway, E.R. & Eldridge, J.J. (2021). . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 507, 621-631.
- Byrne, C.M. & Jeffery, C.S. (2020). . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 492, 232鈥�244.
- Byrne, C.M. & Jeffery, C.S. (2018). . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 481, 3810鈥�3820.
- Byrne, C.M., Jeffery, C.S., Tout, C.A. & Hu, H. (2018). . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 475, 4728鈥�4738.
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Co-author
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- Sant Fournier, C. et al., including Byrne, C.M. (2026)., The Open Journal of Astrophysics, 9.
- Warwick, B. et al., including Byrne, C.M. (2026). , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 551.
- O鈥橞rien, M.W. et al., including Byrne, C.M. (2026). . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 550.
- Pursiainen, M. et al., including Byrne, C.M. (2026). , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 545, 1-22.
- Zhang, Z., Byrne, C.M., Wu, C. & Wang, B. (2025). , Astrophysical Journal, 993, 175.
- Jones, G.T., Byrne C.M. & Stanway, E.R. (2025). , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 543, 167-189.
- Stanway, E.R., Byrne, C.M. & Upadhyaya A. (2025). , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 543, 51-62.
- Roberts, E.K. et al., including Byrne, C.M. (2025). . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 538, 2548-2561.
- Scott, L.J.A., Jeffery, C.S., Byrne, C.M. & Dorsch, M. (2024). . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 530, 2039鈥�2051.
- Seeyave, L.T.C. et al., including Byrne, C.M. (2023). . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 525, 2422-2440.
- Bailey, M., Byrne, C., Ne啪i膷, R., Asher, D. & Finnegan, J. (2019). . The Observatory, 138, 227-245.
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Conference Proceedings
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First-author
- Byrne, C.M. & Jeffery, C.S. (2018). . Proceedings of the Physics of Oscillating Stars Conference in honour of Professor Hiromoto Shibahashi, Banyuls-sur-mer, France, 2-7 September 2018.
- Byrne, C.M., Jeffery, C.S., Tout, C.A. & Hu, H. (2017). . Open Astronomy, 26, 1, 214-218, Special issue, proceedings of 8th Meeting on Hot Subdwarfs and Related Objects, Krakow, Poland, 9-14 July 2017.
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Outreach
I am jointly responsible for the operations of the Astronomy Group's inflatable planetarium. The Planetarum visits schools and science festivals across the West Midlands, supported by staff and student volunteers, reaching around 2000 visitors per year. We give tours of the night sky and highlight the astronomy reseach carried out here at Warwick.
I am always interested in talking and engaging with members of the public to discuss astronomy and science and pass on the wonder and awe that I have for them. I will gladly answer questions about space, give talks to societies or public audiences and take part in fun science events, get in touch if you have any burning questions!
Before Warwick, I was heavily involved in a variety of outreach activities. These included giving public talks at observing nights, leading tours of the historic Armagh Observatory building, providing interviews to local press (in both and ), participating in science workshops for children, writing articles for the Planetarium's blog, , and being a guest on the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium podcast, .
Other Interests
Outside of astrophysics, I enjoy a number of other activities in my free time. These include hiking, and . I also have an unhealthy obsession with the weather, having spent a number of years as a , which has the longest daily climate series anywhere in the UK or Ireland.
