I am a PhD student working with Sebastian Marino and Sasha Hinkley in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Exeter. My PhD focuses on explaining the diverse morphologies observed in debris discs by testing planet-disc interaction theories, evaluating the role of planets in disc truncation through direct imaging searches. These discoveries will ultimately shed light on debris disc and planet formation theories.
During my Master's, I developed a pipeline to detect exocomet transits using spectroscopic data. By systematically searching the entire HARPS archive, I quantified the occurrence rate of these transits, which manifest as transient absorption features in the ionized calcium doublet. For those interested in exocomets, I recommend the recent review series "Exocomets: Bridging our Understanding of Minor Bodies in Solar and Exoplanetary Systems", to which I contributed as an author.
Astronomy is an inherently international field, and my own path reflects that. Born in Japan and raised in Antibes in the south of France, I went on to complete my undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of Warwick, including a year abroad at the University of Waterloo in Canada. These experiences have shaped how I approach research and are reflected in the international collaborations I have built so far.
Research Interests:
Debris disc morphology
Exoplanet detection with direct imaging
Planet-disc interactions
Planet/debris disc formation
Exocomet transit detection
Other Interests:
Outside of astronomy, I have been playing basketball competitively for a large percentage of my life in national/regional/university leagues. Additionally, during my BSc and MSc, I was a Warwick Sport Activator, encouraging other students to be more active, by running casual, inclusive and beginner friendly basketball sessions.
My growing experience in data manipulation has strengthened my interest in sport data science, especially linked to basketball. If this sounds fun to you, I would recommend testing out new analytic tools more specialised towards sports analytics (course link).
We use JWST/MIRI coronagraphic observations as part of program GO 1668 to search for planets sculpting gaps in three exoKuiper belts: HD92945, HD107146, and HD206893. The observed gapped structures suggest the presence of unseen planets carving a gap through direct clearing or resonant planet-disc interactions. We reduce MIRI coronagraphic 11.4µm observations using spaceKLIP, and compare the images with archival data to investigate the nature of the detected sources. We build detection probability maps (DPMs) using MADYS, which quantifies the detection probability of a planet at a given deprojected separation from the JWST contrast curves. We describe new regions that can be overplotted onto the DPMs such as proper motion anomaly constraints, which ultimately enable us to constrain the planetary architecture responsible for the disc structures.
We present the first JWST/NIRCam coronagraphic observations of the HD 92945 debris disc at 2 and 4.4 μm. The disc shows a broad, inclined structure with a gap at ~80 au and a prominent brightness asymmetry in the southwestern inner ring—consistent across multiple wavelengths and epochs, including previous ALMA and HST observations. While no planetary companions are directly detected, our contrast limits exclude Jupiter-mass planets beyond 20-40 au and rule out a single distant planet as the source of Gaia's astrometric signal. Combined with the observed disc features, our results support a scenario where one or more sub-Jupiter planets interior to 20 au dynamically sculpt the disc through secular resonances, explaining the gap, asymmetry, and astrometric acceleration.
As part of my Master's, we developed a pipeline that searches for signs of exocomet transits in spectroscopy data. Being guided by the multiple exocomet transits detected around the archetypal star Beta Pictoris, exocomets can be identified by transient absorption features in specific atomic species, such as the commonly used ionised Calcium doublet. We aimed to overcome previous sample selection biases, and use the entire HARPS archive to build a large and diverse sample of stars. Ultimately, we estimate the occurrence rate of exocomet transits in HARPS and determined any trends in exocomet host stars.
For my latest research outputs, please see the Research section.
Education
PhD of Physics & Astronomy, University of Exeter, UK
MSc by Research in Physics, University of Warwick, UK
BSc in Physics, University of Warwick, UK
BSc Year Abroad: Physics, University of Waterloo, ON, Canada
Teaching
PHY1025 - Mathematics Skills: Group seminars PHY1026 - Mathematics for Physicists: Group seminars PHY1027 - Practical Physics I: Exoplanet Transit lab demonstrator PHY1034 - Computational Data Analysis: Python workshop NSC1002 - Mathematics and Computing: Integrative Tools for Natural Sciences: Python workshop
Obs Programs
PI / Co-PI Programs
[PI: S. Hinkley, co-PI: R. Bendahan-West] - JWST/MIRI GO-11225, 40.9 hours, A MIRI search for TWA 7b twins: sub-Jupiter mass planets shaping debris disks
[PI: E. Matthews, dPI: R. Bendahan-West] - VLT/ERIS 115.283Q, 2 hours, A direct detection of a disk-sculpting giant planet in a system with Hipparcos-Gaia acceleration
[PI: R. Bendahan-West] - ALMA 2024.1.00681.S, 22 hours, Dynamically determining the origin of gas in debris discs
[PI: E. Matthews, dPI: R. Bendahan-West] - VLT/ERIS 113.26NC, 2 hours, A direct detection of a disk-sculpting giant planet in a system with Hipparcos-Gaia acceleration
Collaborator Programs
[PI: A. Carter] - JWST GO-10764, 68.6 hours, Once More, With Feeling: Establishing a Robust Sample of JWST Exoplanet Discoveries
[PI: K. Lawson] - JWST AR-11688, The Wake of Planets: Analyzing Serendipitous Late-type Debris Disk Discoveries from Exoplanet Surveys
[PI: K. Franson] - JWST GO-09056, 49 hours, Imaging the Coldest Planets Around the Nearest Accelerating Stars
[PI: A. Carter] - JWST GO-05835, 95 hours, Uncharted Worlds: Unveiling Wide-Separation Sub-Jupiters for Future JWST Characterization
[PI: B. Biller] - JWST SURVEY-06005, Imaging Young Sub-Jupiter Planets down to Solar-System Scales
[PI: A. Carter] - JWST GO-04050, 48 hours, Uncharted Worlds: Towards a Legacy of Direct Imaging of Sub-Jupiter Mass Exoplanets
[PI: S. Hinkley] - JWST GO-03989, 34 hours, Spotting the Perturbers: A Coronagraphic Survey of Debris Disk Stars with Proper Motion Anomalies
[PI: S. Hinkley] - JWST GO-02538, 25 hours, Using JWST to search for Planetary Sculptors in an ALMA-Selected Sample of Debris Disks
[PI: S. Marino] - JWST GO-01668, 17 hours, Searching for low mass planets in debris disk gaps
