About me

I am Associate Professor at Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, in the Netherlands. I am passionate about unravelling the mystery of how galaxy clusters, the largest and most massive gravitationally bound structures in our Universe, came into existence. Galaxy clusters and their surroundings, are also unique laboratories for determining the physics of particle acceleration, studying the effects of environment and feedback on galaxy evolution, and probing the origin of magnetic fields. Low-frequency radio telescopes play an essential role in addressing the scientific questions in this domain. The opportunity to lead at the forefront of low-frequency radio astronomy, with its accompanying fascinating technical and computational challenges, along with its vast potential for discovery, is something that is also incredibly exciting.

My group at Leiden Observatory  focuses on two main topics. Firstly, we study cosmic rays and magnetic fields in galaxy clusters. We aim to understand how cosmic rays are accelerated and to unravel the origin of magnetic fields in these clusters. To achieve this, we observe clusters using large radio telescopes such as the VLA, GMRT, MeerKAT, and LOFAR. Additionally, we supplement these radio observations with X-ray data to study the hot plasma in clusters. Secondly, we work on developing low-frequency calibration and imaging techniques. Low-frequency observations are challenging due to ionospheric blurring effects, and our goal is to develop methods to mitigate this blurring. Currently, we are focused on observations in the decameter radio band, the last almost unexplored radio window. We are also developing techniques to create sub-arcsecond resolution images of large regions of sky, which presents both calibration and computational challenges.