Related papers: Directly testing gravity with Proxima Centauri
Direct imaging of extra-solar planets is now a reality, especially with the deployment and commissioning of the first generation of specialized ground-based instruments such as the Gemini Planet Imager and SPHERE. These systems will allow…
Our long term aim is to derive model-independent stellar masses and distances for long period massive binaries by combining apparent astrometric orbit with double-lined radial velocity amplitudes (SB2). We follow-up ten O+O binaries with…
Context. Astrometric gravitational microlensing can be used to determine the mass of a single star (the lens) with an accuracy of a few percent. To do so, precise measurements of the angular separations between lens and background star with…
We numerically explore planet formation around alpha Cen A by focusing on the crucial planetesimals-to-embryos phase. Our code computes the relative velocity distribution, and thus the accretion vs. fragmentation trend, of planetesimal…
Upon entering a star system, light sails are subject to both gravitational forces and radiation pressure, and can use both in concert to modify their trajectory. Moreover, stars possess significant magnetic fields, and if the sail is in any…
Context. The fraction of field binaries on retrograde orbits about the Milky Way is significantly lower compared to its prograde counterpart. Chemical and dynamical evidence suggests that the retrograde stellar population originates from…
Astrometric missions like Gaia provide exceptionally precise measurements of stellar positions and proper motions. Gravitational waves traveling between the observer and distant stars can induce small, correlated shifts in these apparent…
We report the observation on UT 2017.07.01 of an unusually powerful flare detected in near-infrared continuum photometry of Proxima Centauri. During a campaign monitoring the star for possible exoplanet transits, we identified an increase…
Centaurus A, at a distance of less than 4 Mpc, is the nearest radio-loud AGN. Its emission is detected from radio to very-high energy gamma-rays. Despite the fact that Cen A is one of the best studied extragalactic objects the origin of its…
The Gamma Cephei planetary system is one of the most interesting systems due to several reasons: 1.) it is the first planet candidate detected by precise radial velocity (RV) measurements that was discussed in the literature (Campbell et…
We report simultaneous observations of the nearby flare star Proxima Centauri with VLT/UVES and XMM-Newton over three nights in March 2009. Our optical and X-ray observations cover the star's quiescent state, as well as its flaring activity…
Galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses with measured stellar velocity dispersions allow a test of the weak-field metric on kiloparsec scales and a geometric measurement of the cosmological distance-redshift relation, provided that the…
Binary pulsars allow us to carry out precision tests of gravity and have placed stringent bounds on a broad class of theories beyond general relativity. Current and future radio telescopes, such as FAST, SKA, and MeerKAT, may find a new…
The works in this portfolio test the hypothesis that it is not possible to extrapolate the Newtonian inverse square law of gravity from Solar System to galaxy scales. In particular, I look into various tests of Modified Newtonian Dynamics…
With hydrodynamical simulations we examine the evolution of a protoplanetary disc around $\alpha$ Centauri B including the effect of the eccentric orbit binary companion $\alpha$ Centauri A. The initially circular orbit disc undergoes two…
Since its launch in 2013, the Gaia space telescope has provided precise measurements of the positions and magnitudes of over 1 billion stars. This has enabled extensive searches for stellar and sub-stellar companions through astrometric and…
We present a new algorithm for precision radial velocity (pRV) measurements, a line-by-line (LBL) approach designed to handle outlying spectral information in a simple but efficient manner. The effectiveness of the LBL method is…
Wide binaries provide promising laboratories for testing general relativity (GR) in the low-acceleration regime. Recent observational studies have found that the difference in the proper motions and/or radial velocities of the components of…
In this paper we report a new estimate of the absolute proper motion (PM) of the globular cluster NGC 5139 ($\omega$ Cen) as part of the HST large program GO-14118+14662. We analyzed a field 17 arcmin South-West of the center of $\omega$…
Many astronomers have speculated that the solar system contains undiscovered massive planets or a distant stellar companion. The acceleration of the solar system barycenter can constrain the mass and position of the putative companion. In…