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I am an observational astrophysicist studying galaxies near and far. I obtained my PhD in Physics at the University of Cambridge in 2015. After that, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, before starting a Marie Curie Fellowship at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF-OABrera) in late 2016. In September 2019 I joined the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics of the University of Oslo as Associate Professor (permanent faculty member). Since 2020, I am appointed teacher of the Observational Astronomy course for Bachelor students in Physics at the University of Oslo.

My main research area is the study of the baryon cycle in galaxies, with a focus on the cold and dense molecular gas phase - which is the raw fuel for star formation - and the investigation of how accreting super massive black holes and intense episodes of star formation affect galaxy evolution.

I am the coordinator of an international project funded by an EU Horizon 2020 3.5M EUR grant, to perform a comprehensive Design Study for the Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope. AtLAST is a concept for a new 50-meter sub-mm single dish telescope, with a Field of View of 1-2 degrees, fully powered by sustainable energy, to be built on the Chajnantor Plateau in Chile. Visit the AtLAST project website for further information.

On the Llano de Chajnantor in the Atacama desert in Chile, surrounded by ALMA antennas

News:

We have posted on arXiv our first paper (Schimek et al., submitted to A&A) on our theoretical investigation of sub-mm and far-infrared line tracers of the interstellar and circumgalactic media of galaxies. Here we apply different modelling approaches to the Ponos cosmological simulation, and derive predictions for the [CII], [CI], [OIII], and CO line emissions detectable with ALMA, and, in the future, AtLAST. Check the arXiv preprint.
Our multi-tracer investigation of cold molecular gas in local ultra infrared luminous galaxies, exploiting new observations taken with the APEX telescope and a rich public ALMA archival dataset, has produced its first publication. Check Montoya Arroyave, Cicone et al. (2023, A&A, Volume 673, A13 )
The AtLAST project is in full swing! Read the latest News and subscribe to our periodic Newsletter
SAVE THE DATES: The AtLAST project conference, where we will release the results of the 3-year long design study, will be carried out at the University of Mainz, Germany, on May 21 - 23, 2024.