Research
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2023.03.22
Solving the Mystery of Small Exoplanets through Holistic Characterization
The first detection of another planet around a Sun-like star marked the beginning of a new era in which our understanding of how planets typically form and the uniqueness of our Solar System were radically upended. We now know that planet formation is incredibly resilient, and produces a diverse myriad of planets around a wide range of stellar types. These remarkable findings tell us that the S...
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2023.03.13
Not only astrophysics: fundamental physics studies with high energy missions
There are no doubts that high energy astrophysics has opened new views on the Universe and on the many classes of sources that populates the hot and energetic sky. However, in the near future, spectral, timing, and polarimetric observations at high energies are expected to address key scientific questions in fundamental physics.In this seminar, I will first briefly summarise the potential of hi...
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2023.02.28
Active Galactic Nuclei: Monsters to Scale or Puzzles to Solve?
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) are the brightest sources of electromagnetic radiation in the universe, enabling us to observe them across the cosmos. AGNs are the central parts of galaxies.Most of their brightness results from the accretion of matter by a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at their center. Studying the AGNs informs us about the role of SMBHs in the formation and evolution of galaxie...
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2023.02.24
Re-investigating A Puzzle in Kepler Planets
super-Earths and mini-Neptunes (shortened as 'kepler planets') are the most abundant type of planets known to us. Currently, their formation channel is under debate.In this talk, I will discuss our attempt to solve a small puzzle in the observations of these planets. We were led to claim that, after formation, each of these planets have scattered and digested a few Mars-massed objects. The smal...
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2023.02.24
Microphysical and non-thermal processes in the circumgalactic medium: turbulence, magnetic fields and cosmic rays
Multiphase gas structure is ubiquitous in our universe. Recent observations suggest that large quantities of cool (10^4 K) gas are detected in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of galaxy halos, which extends up to a few times of galactic virial radius. In addition, warm gas at a few 10^5 K is found to be tightly associated with the star-forming galaxies, but not the quenched ones. However, the or...
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