Astrophysicist
Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx) · Université de Montréal
I am an astrophysicist at Université de Montréal, member of the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx). My research focuses on brown dwarfs, exoplanets, and astronomical instrumentation.
I work on the detection and characterization of exoplanets and brown dwarfs in the solar
neighborhood. I am the scientific lead for the NIRPS
infrared spectrograph (installed at ESO's 3.6m telescope in Chile) and
SPIRou (at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope).
I have developed innovative high-precision velocimetry techniques that enable the detection
of Earth-mass planets around low-mass stars. More recently, I developed a method to measure
stellar temperature variations with unprecedented precision.
I am also involved in supporting the analysis algorithms for the
NIRISS instrument aboard the James Webb
Space Telescope, and in future algorithms for ANDES
on the ELT.
Recent work includes:
All this work is possible thanks to the iREx team. Visit the
institute page and subscribe to our
newsletter.
Computes the cross-correlation function (CCF) of SPIRou/NIRPS s1d spectra by YJHK band, with Gaussian fitting for radial velocity, width and contrast. Installs via pip, with sample data included.
→AstronomyTool to determine exoplanet properties from radial velocity monitoring parameters and predict transits.
→AstronomyGenerates synthetic modal-noise spectra for fibre-fed spectrographs using a Gaussian Process model with wavelength-dependent amplitude.
→AstronomyFlux calculator for the PESTO instrument (OMM, 1.6 m mirror): Gaia/SIMBAD lookup, flux and electrons-per-pixel table, and airmass curve for any night of the year.
→AstronomyPython package that fits a polynomial trend and the band of scatter around it, each with its own degree, by maximum likelihood. Gives the actual width of the point cloud, not to be confused with the uncertainty on the fitted curve.
→AstronomyInteractive app to explore and visualize dynamic astronomy-related scenarios.
→AstronomyTool that computes the stability of a three-body system against Kozai-Lidov (KL) oscillations.
→AstronomyTool to determine star visibility and plan observations of telluric calibration stars.
→AstronomyRetrieves physical and kinematic properties of main-sequence stars from their identifier, querying Gaia DR3, 2MASS, and AllWISE catalogs.
→AstronomyEMCCD photometry statistics toolkit for the PESTO instrument: per-pixel physical histogram (bias, read noise, EM gain), drift tracking, per-pixel flux and uncertainty maps, resolved aperture photometry.
→AstronomyExposure time calculator to estimate observing performance and plan data acquisition.
→AstronomyPhysically motivated 2D detector image simulator for the VROOMM echelle spectrograph: night planning GUI, Zemax PSF/trace propagation, and perceptual-color spectrum previews.
→BirdsCompilation of my bird pictures.
→FinanceInteractive comparator for ~700 Canadian ETFs (TSX). Sort and filter by growth, volatility, sector allocation, and a quality score relative to the S&P 500.
→FinanceBrowser-based financial planning tool that projects retirement portfolio growth and compares scenarios with and without management fees.
→LaTeXAutomatically generates a publication-ready LaTeX author list from a shared Google Sheet. Supports Astronomical Journal (AJ), Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A), and SPIE Proceedings styles.
→LaTeXGenerates A&A-style tracked-changes PDFs between two LaTeX manuscripts. New text in blue, removed text in orange with strikethrough. Installs via pip, runs from anywhere.
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Outside of work, I am a passionate amateur birder. Since 1989, I have documented
over 47,000 bird observations around the world, along with thousands of photographs.
My photo gallery presents a selection of my best images, organized by species,
taxonomic family, and trip.
