Marcelo Tala Pinto

PhD Student

High resolution spectroscopy for exoplanetary detection

Spectroscopy -- Fibres -- Exoplanets

Current Research Summary:

The Radial Velocity (RV) method is one of the most succesfull when detecting exoplanets, but obtaining Precision Radial Velocities (PRV) can be a complex task, and special care has to be taken at the moment of designing, building and operating a PRV instrument. My research is focused in the development and application of techniques to improve and optimise the radial velocity in high resolution spectrographs. During my Master thesis, i worked on the design and lab integration of FIDEOS, a hi-res spectrograph installed at the ESO 1m telescope at La Silla Observatory. My PhD project consist of three different tasks: a) the integration, commissioning and science operation of the new PRV instrument, the Waltz spectrograph installed in the Waltz telescope at Landessternwarte, Heidelberg; b) Physical modelling of the CARMENES spectrograph, to monitor instrumental behavior and study how to improve the instrumental wavelength solution, c) Detection and characterization of giant exoplanets around giant stars (G & K stars) from the Lick Survey.

Prior Research: