Research Team

Scientific collaboration is one of the main strengths of MPIA as an institution. In this tradition, the following group of talented astronomers further their research through ingenuity, perseverance, collaboration, and efficient use of the facilities MPIA provides.

Postdocs

Jaime Villasenor

My main interest is massive binary stars. From their orbital properties to their complex evolution. To understand the conecction between these two aspects, I work with spectroscopic surveys of massive stars, characterising their orbital and physical properties, and trying to uncover interesting systems in different evolutionary phases that can helps us to understand the effects of binarity in the life and death of these massive objects.

Jiadong Li

Jiadong's research focuses on understanding the intricacies of star formation, the evolutionary processes of the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, and their historical contexts, leveraging extensive datasets. He employs advanced methodologies, including machine learning techniques, statistical inference, and predictive modeling, to analyze data from leading astronomical surveys such as SDSS-V, APOGEE, Gaia, LAMOST, and CSST. His primary interest lies in the exploration of stellar populations, emphasizing the stellar initial mass function, vertical motion history, and the chemical evolution of galaxies.

Sahar Shahaf

Sahar Shahaf studies binary-star populations using precision spectroscopy and large stellar surveys. Through precision measurements and statistical analysis of binaries containing stellar remnants, his work investigates how binary interactions shape stellar evolution and the final fate of stars.

Ben Pennell

I attempt to learn about statistics of binary star populations through large ensembles of astrometric data from the Gaia mission.

Ph.D. Students

Johanna Müller-Horn

Based on high-resolution, multi-epoch spectroscopy, Johanna is working to characterize binary star systems with compact companions. She is interested in uncovering the formation pathways of these systems and, more broadly, constraining the properties of the black hole population in the Milky Way.

Ning Wang

Ning’s research focuses on measuring the local dark matter density and constraining the dark matter distribution in the Milky Way. Using dynamical modeling and stellar kinematic data, she aims to better understand the structure of the Galaxy and its dark matter halo.