RESEARCH
Generally speaking, my research focuses on understanding the processes that lead to the formation of stars and planets, and more specifically, on studying the birthplace and conditions for planet formation in their host environments, the protoplanetary disks. I am an observer, and I use mostly the great ESO instruments to observe protoplanetary disks at multiple wavelengths. I analyze observations of the innermost regions with optical interferometry (VLTI) as well as of the outer disk regions with scattered light imaging (VLT/SPHERE) and more recently, have been using ALMA to probe the disk midplane in its cold thermal emission. I love to collaborate with theorists who help me understand what my observations hold.
Substructures in the outer disk regions.
Recently, I have focused my research on searching for, and analyzing small scale features in protoplanetary disks, and in particular, in so-called transition disks. These are disks that show a dust depleted inner cavity, most likely created by embedded planets. It is however quite challenging to detect faint planets still embedded in their host disk (but we found one!) so my research consists in studying the imprints that these planets leave on the outer disk such as spiral arms, rings or asymmetries. For that, I use infrared scattered light imaging and the (sub) millimeter interferometer ALMA.
Structure of the inner disk. The innermost disk regions are crucial for the evolution of the star-planet-disk system, as many key processes happen there such as accretion of material onto the star, ejection through disk winds, and terrestrial planet formation. To probe it, we need to observe with such a high angular resolution that we use near infrared interferometry, that we complement with spectroscopic measurements. With the advent of new instrumentation on the Extremely Large Telescope, we hope that we will be able to directly look at the prevalence of substructures within the first 5 astronomical units, and understand the conditions for the formation of the bulk of the exoplanet population.
Vertical structure & dynamical evolution.
The great power of multi-wavelength analysis is that it allows us to probe different regions of the disks, and also, different dynamical processes responsible for its evolution. By looking at small vs large dust grains, or gas vs dust emissions, one can build a 3D view of the disk and understand the dominant mechanisms leading to planet formation.