I am an observational astronomer interested in understanding how the first galaxies and black holes formed and evolved across cosmic time, their role in cosmic reionization, and the mining of big datasets.
I am a staff astronomer and group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. The research in my group focuses on observational studies of the first Gyr of the Universe (redshifts z>5.5), when the earliest sources of light reionized the intergalactic medium. We use state-of-the-art telescopes to discover and unveil the properties of the highest-z quasars and their cosmic environments from X-ray to radio wavelengths. We are addressing fundamental questions of the epoch of reionization and the dawn of galaxy and supermassive black hole (SMBH) formation, such as: How did the reionization of the Universe proceed in time and space? How did the first SMBHs and galaxies form and grow? Did they arise in the densest parts of the early Universe? Where are the giant radio jets at high-z? How do jets impact the formation and growth of the earliest galaxies and SMBHs?
I am co-leading the high-z QSO Work Package within the Euclid collaboration and I am the chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Large Binocular Telescope.
I am a staff astronomer and group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. The research in my group focuses on observational studies of the first Gyr of the Universe (redshifts z>5.5), when the earliest sources of light reionized the intergalactic medium. We use state-of-the-art telescopes to discover and unveil the properties of the highest-z quasars and their cosmic environments from X-ray to radio wavelengths. We are addressing fundamental questions of the epoch of reionization and the dawn of galaxy and supermassive black hole (SMBH) formation, such as: How did the reionization of the Universe proceed in time and space? How did the first SMBHs and galaxies form and grow? Did they arise in the densest parts of the early Universe? Where are the giant radio jets at high-z? How do jets impact the formation and growth of the earliest galaxies and SMBHs?
I am co-leading the high-z QSO Work Package within the Euclid collaboration and I am the chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Large Binocular Telescope.