Physics & Astrophysics

I was appointed as an RCUK Academic Fellow at Keele University in May 2007 and since 2008, I am also a visiting scientist at the www.IPMU.jp , in Tokyo, Japan. Previously I was a Postdoc at the University of Basel in Switzerland (CH). My undergraduate degree (including masters) in Physics was obtained from the EPFL (Federal Institue of Technology in Lausanne, CH) in 1999. In 1999-2000, I did a one-year industrial training with Mitsubishi Electric in Amagasaki (next to Osaka, Japan). I did my PhD at the University of Geneva (CH) in 2004, under the supervision of Profs Maeder and Meynet on the topic: ‘Massive Rotating Stars: the Road to Supernova Explosions’.

With many collaborators (GB, CH, USA, Japan), I study massive stars and related topics like gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), supernovae (SNe) and the origin of elements by performing numerical simulations. Models are being computed at metallicities ranging from solar down to very low metallicities and from the main sequence until the pre-supernova stage. These models are able to predict properties of the star during its evolution (mass, surface composition and position in the HR diagram), long and soft GRB rates coming from single stars and the production of chemical elements in massive stars.

See my personal web page for further information.

• SASP lectures on "Molecular Theory" and "Quantum and Astrophysics