Projects
Connecting anti-de Sitter and de Sitter. KU Leuven
Our universe has a small, positive cosmological constant that is difficult to understand from a microscopic perspective. String theory could provide an understanding by describing the current state of our universe as a compactification. However, these compactifications are difficult and we lack an explicit calculable example. We can introduce additional symmetries to aid in the construction of a string model for our universe. Supersymmetry is ...
Nonperturbative techniques in QFT and holography KU Leuven
One of the most striking successes of the theoretical approach to physics has been without doubt the development of the framework of quantum field theory (QFT) during the 20th century. Since its inception, it has been applied to an incredibly vast number of physical situations, ranging from interactions between fundamental particles, strongly correlated electrons, superconductors, Luttinger liquids, cold atoms at unitarity, early universe ...
Consistency of de Sitter vacua in string theory KU Leuven
Applications of flux compactifications of string theory. KU Leuven
Neutrino Astronomy with IceCube and its Deep Core extension Vrije Universiteit Brussel
A central issue concerning the most violent cosmic phenomena, e.g. Gamma Ray Bursts and ...
Loop Quantum Gravity Ghent University
We investigate the implementation of the quantum mechanical canonical formalism to general realtivity. An important breaktrough came with Astekars new variables, from which an appropriate quantum Hilbert space was derived. This lead to predictions involving discrete area and volume measurements. Recent research is concerned with the classical limit, the Hamiltonian constraint, applications to cosmology, U+2026
Unveiling the hidden cold dust in nearby spiral galaxies Ghent University
Cosmic dust grains are tiny solid particles in the interstellar medium of galaxies. Characterising their physical properties is crucial to understand the evolution of galaxies. In the past decade, our knowledge on cosmic dust has increased substantially, thanks to observational data from UV to far-infrared wavelengths. However, one important part of the spectrum, the mm range, has largely remained terra incognita. Until now, the lack of ...
An X-ray view on infrared-emitting dust in active galactic nuclei Ghent University
We propose to probe the detailed structure of the dusty medium in active galactic nuclei (AGN) using reflected X-ray features. A unified view on the observed variety of AGN types is established by assuming an obscuring, dusty component around their central black hole. Recently, a new picture of dust structure is emerging, suggesting that dust in nearby AGN occurs as a complex multi-phase medium, extending in the polar direction and possibly ...
Galaxies’ Anatomy - panchromatic SED modelling of spatially resolved galaxies in the local Universe Ghent University
Galaxies are an amalgamation of several components (dark matter, stars, gas, and dust), constantly interacting with one another. This interaction is imprinted on the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a given galaxy. Through a detailed study of the panchromatic SED we can shed light on the astrophysical processes that regulate galaxy evolution. However, the current SED modeling approaches come with many caveats and limitations. One of the ...