I am a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, working on simulations of the origin and impact of supermassive black holes. During my PhD with Adrianne Slyz and Julien Devrient at the University of Oxford, my research focused particularly on the progenitors of the first supermassive black holes, and the impact of active galactic nuclei feedback on galaxy evolution across cosmic history. In my first Postdoc at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, I continue this line of research as well as working on the origin of cold gas in galaxy clusters. During my current position, I am focusing on understanding the dynamics of black holes in glaaxies, and the conditions that created the first supermassive black holes in the early Universe. full CV
I am part of the HORIZON and the LYRICS collaborations, and have published on topics as varied as idealised Bondi accretion simulations, black hole zoom simulations and large scale cosmological simulations.
List of PublicationsI am a computational astrophysicist who tackles unsolved challenges in our understanding of the co-evolution between galaxies and their supermassive black holes. I am an expert in high-resolution simulations of black holes in the context of their host galaxy, and worked extensively on black hole accretion physics, feedback and dynamics. By having worked extensively on both large, galactic scales and on small-scale processes close to black holes, I am uniquely able to find the missing link to their co-evolution. A few of my first-author papers and projects are highlighted in more detail below.
Over their lifetime, supermassive black holes and their host galaxies show a remarkable correlation between their properties. This is due to feedback energy releassed by massive black holes as they grow, which both regulates the growth of the black hole and reduces the star formation in the host galaxy.
Image: Horizon-AGN
While the coevolution of supermassive black holes with their massive host galaxies is\ well studied, the evolution and impact of intermediate mass black holes in the context of their dwarf galaxy holes is much less well understood. I have lead a major research p\ roject studying the evolution of black holes in dwarf galaxies as part of the NewHorizon simulation.
Massive galaxy clusters are filled with hot gas, the so-called intracluster medium. This gas is actively cooling, yet there is little evidence for cold gas, and the associated star formation, in galaxy clusters. Understanding the heating balance of this intracluster medium is a long-standing problem. I have worked extensive on understanding both the multi-phase structure of the intra-cluster medium, and of the impact of cosmic rays and magnetic fields on its long-term thermal evolution. This project is part of the LYRICS collaboration.
Paper: "Dense gas formation ind destruction in a simulated Perseus-like galaxy cluster with spin-driven black hole feedback" Paper: "AGN jets do not prevent the suppression of conduction by the heat buoyancy instability in simulated galaxy clusters" Paper: "Cosmic rays and thermal instability in self-regulating cooling flows of massive galaxy clusters"
Black holes are free to move within their host galaxy. Which path they take depends on the small scale dynamical forces acting on the black hole, including so-called dynamical friction due to an overdense wake behind the black hole. In order to model such forces correctly in large-scale galaxy evolution simulations, I conducted detailed studies on the the gas structures around black holes, and the resulting force on the black hole.
Paper: "Bondi or not Bondi: the impact of resolution on accretion and drag force modelling for Supermassive Black Holes"
Observed with masses in excess of a billion solar masses, at a time when the universe was only about a billion years old, the origin of the first supermassive black holes remains an unsolved question today. In the face of few observations from this era, simulations provide one tool to study the origin of these black holes. However, simulating the immediate black hole environment, without loosing the galactic and cosmological context, remains a huge computational challenge. I have worked extensively on extending the range of scales covered in a single simulation, to allow a detailed study of black hole evolution in a the context of their rapidly changing environment in the early universe.
More on the black hole zoom project Paper: "Zooming in on supermassive black holes: how resolving their gas cloud host renders their accretion episodic"