Research interests

Research interests

Being fascinated by astronomy since I was a child, I studied Physics & Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg. I wrote my PhD thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Heidelberg, Germany, focussing on Lyman-Alpha emitting galaxies at high-redshift (4<z<7) .
As a postdoc I joined the group of Prof. Simon Lilly at the Institute of Astronomy at ETH Zurich, being a key person in the zCOSMOS large-redshift survey collaboration.
After that I continued doing research in the extragalactic group of Prof. Bodo Ziegler at the Department of Astrophysics, University of Vienna.

My most recent first author paper (about ionized gas Blobs) with the title: "Enigmatic diffuse ionized gas structures in a cluster of galaxies near cosmic noon" has been published in the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal in May 2025. The BLOBs can be seen as kind of breath of death of dying galaxies:  they are tracing the quenching of star formation in galaxies in the center of the cluster XMM2215 at a redshift close to cosmic noon, z ~ 1.5.  The central area of the cluster contains only passive galaxies and an AGN.

I am a lecturer for several Master and Bachelor courses:

- "Physical Properties of Galaxies" in Winter Semester 2024

- "Galactic Structure and Stellar Systems" in Summer Semester 2025

-  "Extragalactic Astrophysics" in Summer Semester 2025 

-  "Formation and Evolution of Galaxies" in Winter Semester 2025. 

Additionally,  I have been supervising several Master and Bachelor theses.

My main research interests include:
• Evolution of Star Formation Rates and Metallicities of Galaxies
• Internal Kinematics, Stellar-to-Halo Mass Relations and Connection with Gas Regulation
• Gas Consumption and Quenching Timescales and Mechanisms
• Role of AGNs and (Cluster) Environment on Galaxy Evolution and on Quenching
• Evolution of Structural Parameters of Galaxies
• Lyman Alpha Emitters and Primeval Star Formation at High Redshifts