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Dr. Véronique Petit studied Physics at Université Laval in Québec City, Canada. Dr. Petit is interested in the lives of massive stars, which are tens of times more massive than our Sun, especially in the relatively new and rapidly evolving study of these stars’ intriguing magnetic fields. Dr. Petit uses state of the art observations to challenge, constrain, and guide quantitative theoretical models, within the context of large observing programs such as the Magnetism in Massive Star (MiMeS) and the Binarity and Magnetic Interactions in various classes of Stars (BinaMIcS) projects. Her key areas of expertise include optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray spectroscopy, optical spectropolarimetry, polarized radiative transfer, and Bayesian inference.
Professional Experience
Professional Experience
2020 - present Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy University of Delaware
2017 - 2020 Assistant Professor of Physics & Astronomy University of Delaware
2014 - 2017 Assistant Professor of Physics & Space Science Florida Institute of Technology
2013 - 2014 Postdoctoral Research Associate University of Delaware
2010 - 2012 Instructor/Research Associate and FQRNT fellow.West Chester University
2009 - 2010 Lecturer, Research Assistant.Royal Military College of Canada
Education
Education
2005 - 2011 Ph.D. (Physics), Université Laval
Thesis: “Spectropolarimetric study of magnetism in massive stars”
2003 - 2005 M.Sc. (Physics), Université Laval
Thesis: “Analysis and modeling of the Luminous Blue Variable star NGC 2363-V1 in giant eruption”
2000 - 2003 B.Sc. (Physics), Université Laval
Professional Affiliations
Professional Affiliations
International Astronomical Union
American Astronomical Society
Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) Collaboration
Binarity and Magnetic Interactions in various classes of Stars (BinaMIcS) Collaboration
Magnetic OB[A] Stars with TESS: probing their Evolutionary and Rotational properties (MOBSTER) Collaboration
Teaching at University of Delaware (PHYS) and FIT (SPS)
Teaching at University of Delaware (PHYS) and FIT (SPS)
Stellar Astrophysics, Graduate-level (SPS-5010/PHYS-633)
Observational Astronomy (SPS-2010)
Introductory Physics with Calculus (SPS-1001/PHYS-207)
Introduction to Stellar Astrophysics (SPS-4010)
Introduction to research (PHYS-468)
Concepts of the Universe (PHYS-144)
Recent Public Lectures
Recent Public Lectures
August 19th 2023 StarFest2023 25th Anniversary Keynote Presentation
April 3rd 2023 Mt. Cuba Public lecture
March 21 2023 Mt. Cuba Delaware Astronomy club
March 12 2019 Chester County Astronomical Society Speaker
Nov 9th 2018 Delaware Physics Open Education Network
Sept 23 2018 ChesMont Astronomical Society
Current Research Group Grants
$1.2M in external funding (including PI grants, fellowships, and sub-contracts)Current Research Group Grants
2024 Delaware Space Grant College and Fellowship Program
Summer undergraduate support
2024 - 2026 National Science Foundation
X-ray spectral diagnostics of massive star winds and magnetospheres
2019 - 2020 Space Telescope Science Institute
Quantitative Modeling of the Ultraviolet Spectra of Magnetic Massive Stars
2020 - 2021 NASA
19-NICER19-0032, The high-energy emission of the doubly-magnetic massive binary epsilon Lupi
2020 Chandra X-ray Observatory
Cycle 22. Archive/Theory, Where are the shocks in O star winds? Understanding constraints from $f/i$ ratios in He-like ions.Total grant amount PI Leutenegger
2021 - 2024 National Science Foundation
Collaborative Research: New Models Of Stellar Evolution To Understand The Past, Present & Future Of Magnetic Massive Stars
2018 - 2020 University of Delaware Research Foundation
The origin and fate of magnetic massive stars.
2018 - 2020 *Space Telescope Science Institute
Mapping the Structure and Kinematics of NGC 1624-2's Giant Magnetosphere.
2017 - 2022 National Science Foundation
Time Resolved Studies of Outflows from Massive Stars using the Observatory of the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy.
Most Recent Publications
Most Recent Publications
Semenko, E., Kochukhov, O., Mikulášek, Z., Wade, G. A., Alecian, E., Bohlender, D., Das, B., Feliz, D. L., Janík, J., Kolář, J., Krtička, J., Kudryavtsev, D. O., Labadie-Bartz, J. M., Mkrtichian, D., Monin, D., Petit, V., Romanyuk, I. I., Shultz, M. E., Shulyak, D., Siverd, R. J., Tkachenko, A., Yakunin, I. A., Zejda, M., & the BinaMIcS collaboration 2024, MNRAS, 535, 2812, "HD 34736: an intensely magnetised double-lined spectroscopic binary with rapidly rotating chemically peculiar B-type components"
Erba, C., Folsom, C. P., David-Uraz, A., Wade, G. A., Seadrow, S., Bellotti, S., Fossati, L., Petit, V., & Shultz, M. E. 2024, ApJ, 977, 84, "First Observation of the Complete Rotation Period of the Ultraslowly Rotating Magnetic O Star HD 54879"
Das, B., Chandra, P., & Petit, V. 2024, ApJ, 974, 267, "Coherent Radio Emission from "Main-sequence Radio Pulse Emitters": A New Stellar Diagnostic to Probe 3D Magnetospheric Structures"
Biswas, A., Wade, G. A., Chandra, P., Petit, V., Das, B., & Shultz, M. E. 2024, ApJ, 974, 182, "XMM-Newton Perspective of the Unique Magnetic Binary-ϵ Lupi"
MacDonald, J., Natan, T., Petit, V., Kochukhov, O., & Shultz, M. E. 2024, MNRAS, 530, 2840, "Using ZDI maps to determine magnetic forces and torques at the photospheres of early-type stars"
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