Welcome!

Hello! My name is Adolfo Carvalho and I'm an Astronomy PhD candidate at Caltech. I work with Prof. Lynne Hillenbrand on outbursting Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) and Prof. Laura Perez at Universidad de Chile, studying protoplanetary disks with ALMA. I am generally interested in how the disks in which planets form impact their formation. 

Main Research Interests:

• Building a better understanding of the physics in FU Ori outbursts: what triggers them and how they evolve in time

• How accretion outbursts, particularly FU Ori outbursts, impact the thermal conditions in the inner disk

• How FU Ori outbursts impact the chemical environment in the inner disk 

• How interactions between newly formed giant planets and the disk alter the outer disk environment 

Observational Data I typically work with:

• High resolution visible/NIR spectroscopy (Keck/HIRES and Keck/NIRSPEC primarily, though some IGRINS)

• Medium/low resolution NIR spectrophotometry (Palomar/TripleSpec and NASA IRTF/SpeX)

• High angular resolution millimeter continuum imaging (ALMA)

I have also, alongside NIRSPEC instrument specialist Greg Doppmann, developed a new PypeIt module to reduce pre- and post-upgrade Keck/NIRSPEC spectra. The new pipeline will be available soon. 

I can be contacted at: carvalho (at) caltech.edu

Website is still under construction! Will look better in future (hopefully)