Connor, Thomas
Astrophysicist, Chandra X-Ray Center
Multi-wavelength astrophysical observations, with particular specialization in X-ray imaging and spectroscopy, with applications focusing on the most massive structures in the Universe: clusters of galaxies, the cosmic web, and the first supermassive black holes.
Positions
- Astrophysicist, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 2022 -
Research Areas
Background And Education
Education And Training
- Ph.D. in Astrophysics, Michigan State University , Department of Physics and Astronomy 2011 - 2016
Publications
Selected Publications
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Article
- Sturm, Megan R., Reines, Amy E., Lohfink, Anne M., Bogdan, Akos, Kraft, Ralph, Stern, Daniel, Connor, Thomas, Darling, Jeremy, and Molina, Mallory. 2026. "Chandra and HST Observations of Radio-selected (Wandering) Massive Black Hole Candidates in Dwarf Galaxies." The Astrophysical Journal, 996 41. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae1eec. 2026
- Bañados, Eduardo, Momjian, Emmanuel, Connor, Thomas, Belladitta, Silvia, Decarli, Roberto, Mazzucchelli, Chiara, Venemans, Bram P., Walter, Fabian, Wang, Feige, Xie, Zhang-Liang, Barth, Aaron J., Eilers, Anna-Christina, Fan, Xiaohui, Khusanova, Yana, Schindler, Jan-Torge, Stern, Daniel, Yang, Jinyi, Andika, Irham Taufik, Carilli, Christopher L., Farina, Emanuele P., Fabian, Andrew, Hennawi, Joseph F., Pensabene, Antonio, and Rojas-Ruiz, Sofía. 2025. "A blazar in the epoch of reionization." Nature Astronomy, 9 293–301. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02431-4. 2025
- Walter, Fabian, Bañados, Eduardo, Carilli, Chris, Neeleman, Marcel, Connor, Thomas, Decarli, Roberto, Farina, Emanuele Paulo, Khusanova, Yana, Mazzucchelli, Chiara, Meyer, Romain, Momjian, Emmanuel, Rix, Hans–Walter, Rojas-Ruiz, Sofía, and Venemans, Bram. 2025. "Kiloparsec-scale Alignment of a Radio Jet with Cool Gas and Dust in a z ∼ 6 Quasar." The Astrophysical Journal, 983. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adc2f5. 2025
- Marcotulli, Lea, Connor, Thomas, Bañados, Eduardo, Boorman, Peter G., Migliori, Giulia, Grefenstette, Brian W., Momjian, Emmanuel, Siemiginowska, Aneta, Stern, Daniel, Belladitta, Silvia, Cheung, C. C., Fabian, Andrew, Khusanova, Yana, Mazzucchelli, Chiara, Rojas-Ruiz, Sofía, and Urry, C. Megan. 2025. "NuSTAR Observations of a Varying-flux Quasar in the Epoch of Reionization." The Astrophysical Journal, 979. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad94ee. 2025
- Muhibullah, Mustafa, Brodwin, Mark, McDonald, Michael, Gonzalez, Anthony H., Moravec, Emily, Connor, Thomas, Stanford, S. A., Somboonpanyakul, Taweewat, Ruppin, Florian, Eisenhardt, Peter R. M., Decker, Bandon, Stern, Daniel, and Trudeau, Ariane. 2025. "The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey. XII. Exploring X-Ray Active Galactic Nuclei in Dynamically Active Massive Galaxy Clusters at z ∼ 1." The Astrophysical Journal, 983 47. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adbae4. 2025
- Ighina, Luca, Caccianiga, Alessandro, Connor, Thomas, Moretti, Alberto, Pacucci, Fabio, Reynolds, Cormac, Afonso, José, Arsioli, Bruno, Belladitta, Silvia, Broderick, Jess W., Dallacasa, Daniele, Della Ceca, Roberto, Haardt, Francesco, Lambrides, Erini, Leung, James K., Lupi, Alessandro, Matute, Israel, Rigamonti, Fabio, Severgnini, Paola, Seymour, Nick, Tavecchio, Fabrizio, and Vignali, Cristian. 2025. "X-Ray Investigation of Possible Super-Eddington Accretion in a Radio-loud Quasar at z = 6.13." The Astrophysical Journal, 990 L56. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aded0a. 2025
- Omoruyi, Osase, Tremblay, Grant R., Combes, Francoise, Davis, Timothy A., Gladders, Michael D., Vikhlinin, Alexey, Nulsen, Paul, Kharb, Preeti, Baum, Stefi A., O'Dea, Christopher P., Sharon, Keren, Terrazas, Bryan A., Nevin, Rebecca, Schechter, Aimee L., ZuHone, John A., McDonald, Michael, Dahle, Hakon, Bayliss, Matthew B., Connor, Thomas, Florian, Michael, Rigby, Jane R., and Vaddi, Sravani. 2024. ""Beads-on-a-string" Star Formation Tied to One of the Most Powerful Active Galactic Nucleus Outbursts Observed in a Cool-core Galaxy Cluster." The Astrophysical Journal, 963 1. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad1101. 2024
- Zou, Siwei, Cai, Zheng, Wang, Feige, Fan, Xiaohui, Champagne, Jaclyn B., Hennawi, Joseph F., Schindler, Jan-Torge, Farina, Emanuele Paolo, Yang, Jinyi, Inayoshi, Kohei, Bañados, Eduardo, Bosman, Sarah E. I., Li, Zihao, Lin, Xiaojing, Wu, Yunjing, Sun, Fengwu, Guo, Ziyi, Kulkuarni, Girish, Habouzit, Mélanie, Charlot, Stephane, Chevallard, Jacopo, Connor, Thomas, Eilers, Anna-Christina, Jiang, Linhua, Jin, Xiangyu et al. 2024. "A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): Impact of Galaxies on the Circumgalactic Medium Metal Enrichment at z > 6 Using the JWST and VLT." The Astrophysical Journal, 963 L28. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad23e7. 2024
- Loiacono, Federica, Decarli, Roberto, Mignoli, Marco, Farina, Emanuele Paolo, Bañados, Eduardo, Bosman, Sarah, Eilers, Anna-Christina, Schindler, Jan-Torge, Strauss, Michael A., Vestergaard, Marianne, Wang, Feige, Blecha, Laura, Carilli, Chris L., Comastri, Andrea, Connor, Thomas, Costa, Tiago, Dotti, Massimo, Fan, Xiaohui, Gilli, Roberto, Jun, Hyunsung D., Liu, Weizhe, Lupi, Alessandro, Marshall, Madeline A., Mazzucchelli, Chiara, Meyer, Romain A. et al. 2024. "A quasar-galaxy merger at z ∼ 6.2: Black hole mass and quasar properties from the NIRSpec spectrum." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 685 A121. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202348535. 2024
- Decarli, Roberto, Loiacono, Federica, Farina, Emanuele Paolo, Dotti, Massimo, Lupi, Alessandro, Meyer, Romain A., Mignoli, Marco, Pensabene, Antonio, Strauss, Michael A., Venemans, Bram, Yang, Jinyi, Walter, Fabian, Wolf, Julien, Bañados, Eduardo, Blecha, Laura, Bosman, Sarah, Carilli, Chris L., Comastri, Andrea, Connor, Thomas, Costa, Tiago, Eilers, Anna-Christina, Fan, Xiaohui, Gilli, Roberto, Jun, Hyunsung D., Liu, Weizhe et al. 2024. "A quasar-galaxy merger at z ∼ 6.2: Rapid host growth via the accretion of two massive satellite galaxies." Astronomy and Astrophysics, 689 A219. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202449239. 2024
- Dobie, Dougal, Sluse, Dominique, Deller, Adam, Murphy, Tara, Krone-Martins, Alberto, Stern, Daniel, Wang, Ziteng, Wang, Yuanming, Boehm, Céline, Djorgovski, S. G., Galluccio, Laurent, Delchambre, Ludovic, Connor, Thomas, den Brok, Jakob Sebastiaan, Do Vale Cunha, Pedro H., Ducourant, Christine, Graham, Matthew J., Jalan, Priyanka, Klioner, Sergei A., Klüter, Jonas, Mignard, François, Negi, Vibhore, Petit, Quentin, Scarano, Sergio, Slezak, Eric et al. 2024. "Gaia GraL: Gaia DR2 gravitational lens systems - VIII. A radio census of lensed systems." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 528 5880–5889. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad4002. 2024
- Saade, M. Lynne, Brightman, Murray, Stern, Daniel, Connor, Thomas, Djorgovski, S. G., D'Orazio, Daniel J., Ford, K. E. S., Graham, Matthew J., Haiman, Zoltán, Jun, Hyunsung D., Kammoun, Elias, Kraft, Ralph P., McKernan, Barry, Vikhlinin, Alexei, and Walton, Dominic J. 2024. "NuSTAR Observations of Candidate Subparsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes." The Astrophysical Journal, 966 104. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad372e. 2024
- Kirkpatrick, J. Davy, Marocco, Federico, Gelino, Christopher R., Raghu, Yadukrishna, Faherty, Jacqueline K., Bardalez Gagliuffi, Daniella C., Schurr, Steven D., Apps, Kevin, Schneider, Adam C., Meisner, Aaron M., Kuchner, Marc J., Caselden, Dan, Smart, R. L., Casewell, S. L., Raddi, Roberto, Kesseli, Aurora, Stevnbak Andersen, Nikolaj, Antonini, Edoardo, Beaulieu, Paul, Bickle, Thomas P., Bilsing, Martin, Chieng, Raymond, Colin, Guillaume, Deen, Sam, Dereveanco, Alexandru et al. 2024. "The Initial Mass Function Based on the Full-sky 20 pc Census of ∼3600 Stars and Brown Dwarfs." The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 271 55. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ad24e2. 2024
- Trudeau, A., Gonzalez, Anthony H., Thongkham, K., Lee, Kyoung-Soo, Alberts, Stacey, Brodwin, M., Connor, Thomas, Eisenhardt, Peter R. M., Moravec, Emily, Puvvada, Eshwar, and Stanford, S. A. 2024. "The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey 2: A Stacking Analysis Investigating the Evolution of Star Formation Rates and Stellar Masses in Groups and Clusters." The Astrophysical Journal, 972 27. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad5545. 2024
- Thongkham, Khunanon, Gonzalez, Anthony H., Brodwin, Mark, Trudeau, Ariane, Saha, Ripon, Eisenhardt, Peter, Stanford, S. A., Moravec, Emily, Connor, Thomas, and Stern, Daniel. 2024. "The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey 2: Equatorial First Data Release." Astrophysical Journal, 967, (2) 123. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad3c44. 2024
- Thongkham, Khunanon, Gonzalez, Anthony H., Brodwin, Mark, Trudeau, Ariane, Eisenhardt, Peter, Stanford, S. A., Moravec, Emily, Connor, Thomas, Stern, Daniel, Spivey, Ryan, and Garcia, Karolina. 2024. "The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey 2: Second Data Release." The Astrophysical Journal, 976 186. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad888c. 2024
- Greenwell, Claire L., Klindt, Lizelke, Lansbury, George B., Rosario, David J., Alexander, David M., Aird, James, Stern, Daniel, Forster, Karl, Koss, Michael J., Bauer, Franz E., Ricci, Claudio, Tomsick, John, Brandt, William N., Connor, Thomas, Boorman, Peter G., Annuar, Adlyka, Ballantyne, David R., Chen, Chien-Ting, Civano, Francesca, Comastri, Andrea, Fawcett, Victoria A., Fornasini, Francesca M., Gandhi, Poshak, Harrison, Fiona, Heida, Marianne et al. 2024. "The NuSTAR Serendipitous Survey: The 80 Month Catalog and Source Properties of the High-energy Emitting Active Galactic Nucleus and Quasar Population." The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 273 20. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ad4a71. 2024
- Connor, Thomas, Bañados, Eduardo, Cappelluti, Nico, and Foord, Adi. 2024. "Uncovering the First AGN Jets with AXIS." Universe, 10 227. https://doi.org/10.3390/universe10050227. 2024
- Bañados, Eduardo, Khusanova, Yana, Decarli, Roberto, Momjian, Emmanuel, Walter, Fabian, Connor, Thomas, Carilli, Christopher L., Mazzucchelli, Chiara, Rojas-Ruiz, Sofía, and Venemans, Bram P. 2024. "[C II] Properties and Far-infrared Variability of a z = 7 Blazar." The Astrophysical Journal, 977. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad823b. 2024
- Yang, Jinyi, Wang, Feige, Fan, Xiaohui, Hennawi, Joseph F., Barth, Aaron J., Bañados, Eduardo, Sun, Fengwu, Liu, Weizhe, Cai, Zheng, Jiang, Linhua, Li, Zihao, Onoue, Masafusa, Schindler, Jan-Torge, Shen, Yue, Wu, Yunjing, Bhowmick, Aklant K., Bieri, Rebekka, Blecha, Laura, Bosman, Sarah, Champagne, Jaclyn B., Colina, Luis, Connor, Thomas, Costa, Tiago, Davies, Frederick B., Decarli, Roberto et al. 2023. "A SPectroscopic Survey of Biased Halos in the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): A First Look at the Rest-frame Optical Spectra of z > 6.5 Quasars Using JWST." The Astrophysical Journal, 951. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acc9c8. 2023
- Wang, Feige, Yang, Jinyi, Hennawi, Joseph F., Fan, Xiaohui, Sun, Fengwu, Champagne, Jaclyn B., Costa, Tiago, Habouzit, Melanie, Endsley, Ryan, Li, Zihao, Lin, Xiaojing, Meyer, Romain A., Schindler, Jan-Torge, Wu, Yunjing, Bañados, Eduardo, Barth, Aaron J., Bhowmick, Aklant K., Bieri, Rebekka, Blecha, Laura, Bosman, Sarah, Cai, Zheng, Colina, Luis, Connor, Thomas, Davies, Frederick B., Decarli, Roberto et al. 2023. "A SPectroscopic Survey of Biased Halos in the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): JWST Reveals a Filamentary Structure around a z = 6.61 Quasar." The Astrophysical Journal, 951. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/accd6f. 2023
- Schindler, Jan-Torge, Bañados, Eduardo, Connor, Thomas, Decarli, Roberto, Fan, Xiaohui, Farina, Emanuele Paolo, Mazzucchelli, Chiara, Nanni, Riccardo, Rix, Hans-Walter, Stern, Daniel, Venemans, Bram P., and Walter, Fabian. 2023. "The Pan-STARRS1 z > 5.6 Quasar Survey. III. The z ≈ 6 Quasar Luminosity Function." The Astrophysical Journal, 943 67. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aca7ca. 2023
- Bañados, Eduardo, Schindler, Jan-Torge, Venemans, Bram P., Connor, Thomas, Decarli, Roberto, Farina, Emanuele Paolo, Mazzucchelli, Chiara, Meyer, Romain A., Stern, Daniel, Walter, Fabian, Fan, Xiaohui, Hennawi, Joseph F., Khusanova, Yana, Morrell, Nidia, Nanni, Riccardo, Noirot, Gaël, Pensabene, Antonio, Rix, Hans-Walter, Simon, Joseph, Verdoes Kleijn, Gijs A., Xie, Zhang-Liang, Yang, Da-Ming, and Connor, Andrew. 2023. "The Pan-STARRS1 z > 5.6 Quasar Survey. II. Discovery of 55 Quasars at 5.6 < z < 6.5." The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 265 29. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/acb3c7. 2023
- Zhao, Zhiqiang, Cai, Meng, Wang, Fang, Winkler, Julie A., Connor, Thomas, Chung, Min Gon, Zhang, Jindong, Yang, Hongbo, Xu, Zhenci, Tang, Ying, Ouyang, Zhiyun, Zhang, Hemin, and Liu, Jianguo. 2021. "Synergies and tradeoffs among Sustainable Development Goals across boundaries in a metacoupled world." Science of The Total Environment, 751 Article 141749. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141749. 2021
- Hou, Jin, He, Yuxin, Yang, Hongbo, Connor, Thomas, Gao, Jie, Wang, Yujun, Zeng, Yichao, Zhang, Jindong, Huang, Jinyan, Zheng, Bochuan, and Zhou, Shiqiang. 2020. "Identification of animal individuals using deep learning: A case study of giant panda." Biological Conservation, 242 Article 108414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108414. 2020
- Chen, Ping, Dong, Subo, Stritzinger, M. D., Holmbo, Simon, Strader, Jay, Kochanek, C. S., Peng, Eric W., Benetti, S., Bersier, D., Brownsberger, Sasha, Buckley, David A. H., Gromadzki, Mariusz, Moran, Shane, Pastorello, A., Aydi, Elias, Bose, Subhash, Connor, Thomas, Boutsia, K., Mille, F. Di, Elias-Rosa, N., French, K. Decker, Holoien, Thomas W. -S, Mattila, Seppo, Shappee, B. J., Stark, Antony A. et al. 2020. "The Most Rapidly Declining Type I Supernova 2019bkc/ATLAS19dqr." The Astrophysical Journal, 889 L6. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab62a4. 2020
- Connor, Thomas, Zahedy, Fakhri S., Chen, Hsiao-Wen, Cooper, Thomas J., Mulchaey, John S., and Vikhlinin, Alexey. 2019. "COS Observations of the Cosmic Web: A Search for the Cooler Components of a Hot, X-Ray Identified Filament." The Astrophysical Journal, 884 L20. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab45f5. 2019
- Li, Cheng, Connor, Thomas, Bai, Wenke, Yang, Hongbo, Zhang, Jindong, Qi, Dunwu, and Zhou, Caiquan. 2019. "Dynamics of the giant panda habitat suitability in response to changing anthropogenic disturbance in the Liangshan Mountains." Biological Conservation, 237 445–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.07.018. 2019
- Connor, Thomas, Kelson, Daniel D., Mulchaey, John, Vikhlinin, Alexey, Patel, Shannon G., Balogh, Michael L., Joshi, Gandhali, Kraft, Ralph, Nagai, Daisuke, and Starikova, Svetlana. 2018. "Wide-field Optical Spectroscopy of Abell 133: A Search for Filaments Reported in X-Ray Observations." The Astrophysical Journal, 867 25. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aae38b. 2018
Contact
Location
- Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Academic Department