Research Questions

Our publications

The effect of the atmospheric C/O ratio on interiors of hot Jupiters

01/10/2026 - Exoplanets

The atmosphere is the outer boundary of a gas giant exoplanet’s interior. Therefore, compositional changes in the atmosphere can affect interior inferences. Typically, only metallicity is considered in atmospheric boundary conditions, while other elemental ratios, in particular the C/O ratio, are assumed to be solar. In light of the observational constraints now achievable with James…

Can the long-term impact of stellar M-dwarf flares alter the spectral features of a giant gaseous exoplanet?

01/10/2026 - Exoplanets

In this work, we model the long-term impact of recurrent stellar flares on the atmospheres of metal-rich gaseous exoplanets. Using synthetic flare spectra from a fiducial flare model integrated with a photochemical kinetics code, we track the changes in atmospheric composition with time. We further analyze the spectral variability by feeding these abundance profiles into…

XRISM Spectroscopy of Variable Accretion-driven Disk Winds in NGC 4151: When, Where, and How Fast Outflows are Launched

01/10/2026 - Low-Energy

X-ray observations probe the inner accretion flow within active galactic nuclei, revealing the highest gas column densities and fastest winds. The most diverse winds yet revealed with the Resolve calorimeter spectrometer aboard XRISM are found in NGC 4151, a nearby Seyfert 1 active galactic nucleus (AGN) that may qualify as a changing-look source (CLAGN). Herein,…

3D radiative transfer of Lyman-series lines with SKIRT

01/10/2026 - High-Energy

Context. High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy and polarimetry provided by XRISM and IXPE offer new diagnostics of the geometry and kinematics of photoionised plasmas around compact objects. Interpreting reprocessed X-ray emission in such systems requires a full three-dimensional radiative transfer (3D RT) including photon-ion interactions. Aims. We extended the Monte Carlo (MC) RT code SKIRT by implementing…

Advancing the detection of low surface brightness galaxies: I. ATTILA: multi-tAsking deTecTIon tool for Lsb gAlaxies

01/10/2026 - Low-Energy

Context. Ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) lie at the extreme end of the size–luminosity distribution of low-surface-brightness (LSB) galaxies. Their detection and characterization require deep imaging and reliable source detection techniques that can handle low signal-to-noise ratios and severe source blending. Aims. We aim at improving the detection and characterization of LSB galaxies and UDG candidates in…

Dissecting the Nuclear Structure of NGC 5548 with XRISM. I. Physical Properties of the Highly Ionized Outflows

01/09/2026 - High-Energy

We present a detailed spectral analysis of an X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) observation of the prototypical Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548. XRISM’s Resolve microcalorimeter reveals, for the first time, highly ionized outflows in this active galactic nucleus (AGN) through the detection of Fe XXV and Fe XXVI absorption lines in the Fe K…

Publications