Research
So far, most of what my work has been is testing different rungs of the cosmic distance ladder, learning about different astronomical objects and cosmological models. However, since starting my university studies I have been more drawn to theory. Here, I report my current academic interests.
Dark Energy
The DESI collaboration's recent survey hints that dark energy might not be a fixed cosmological constant $\Lambda$, but something that evolves over cosmic time. Allowing theorists freedom to think about the hidden nature of dark energy, the simplest alternative for now is a scalar potential. I am learning how to apply my learnings from 1st year university (autonomous PDE systems, Eigenvalue problems) to test the stability of potentials following Copeland et al. 2006.
Quantum Mechanics
After very much enjoying the theoretical classical mechanics lecture, I am spending this summer reading Professor Tong's quantum mechanics lectures notes and thinking about mathematical structure beyond my current courses (Hilbert spaces, Lebesgue Integration, Gauge Theory, Effective Field Theory).
Past Work
My path into research started with a fairly literal reading of the distance ladder: in 2023 I recomputed the Hubble constant from scratch, using Cepheid variable stars as standard candles via the period-luminosity relation, and landed on $H_0 \approx 71$ km/s/Mpc.
The following summer, a research stay at ICE-CSIC-IEEC took me one rung further up the ladder: using SOFI (ESO), ZTF, and ATLAS photometry of Type Ia supernovae to measure cosmological distances and fit cosmological parameters directly.
In 2025, a stay at OAB-INAF pushed further still, into gamma-ray bursts and gravitational waves. I used long-GRB data from Fermi to infer cosmological parameters under $\Lambda$CDM via $\chi^2$ statistics, then used gravitational-wave event simulations from Colombo et al. 2025 to study how multi-messenger data changes that inference. (Project Repository)
For the full list of research stays, talks, and awards, see my CV.