Research Interests

My research fundamentally reshapes our understanding of novae. These are common (~10 per year discovered in the Galaxy) panchromatic transient events triggered by a thermonuclear runaway on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary star system

Recently, classical novae have been detected to emit high energy gamma-rays. Such high energy emission is thought to originate from internal shocks between ejecta of different velocities, which accelerate particles to relativistic speeds. Following up on these events with observations covering the entire bands of the electromagnetic spectrum is the best way for a better understanding of the theory and to constrain the efficiency of accelerating particles within these shocks. I use ground and space-based facilities such as SOAR, SALT, Gemini, CHARA, VLA, Fermi-LAT, NuSTAR, Swift, TESS, and JWST to observe and study novae.

The new insights into novae brought by the detection of gamma-rays imply that novae can be used as laboratories to understand shocks in other transients such as SNe, stellar mergers, and TDEs.

My research also involves studying different sub-classes of cataclysmic variables (CVs) such as Dwarf novae and magnetic CVs, for a better understanding of their accretion processes and the role of magnetism in their evolution. 

New high-resolution, high-sensitivity observations of AGB stars and their progeny, such as (proto-) planetary nebulae, have been revealing the presence of complex structures (e.g. rings, arcs, and spirals) in their circumstellar environment (see, e.g., Maercker et al. 2012). One explanation for these structures is the presence of stellar/sub-stellar companion(s). In an effort to understand the effect of close-in sub-stellar companions on the circumstellar environment of evolved stars, we carried out 3D radiation-hydro modelling of the outflow of AGB stars and its interaction with a planetary, close-in companion, using the Smoothed. Particle Hydrodynamics method. The interaction between the companion and the outflow creates a series of shocks that cluster to form periodic spiral structures. 

These models may explain some of the complex structures observed around AGB stars and (proto-)planetary nebulae. They could also give us an insight into the future of our solar system, when our own Sun would turn into an AGB star, and its winds interact with the giant gaseous planets like Jupiter and Saturn.