My main interest in astronomy is studying and characterize extrasolar planets.
Theory: Exoplanet atmospheric spectra modeling
For my Ph.D. dissertation proyect I've been developing a Bayesian Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (BART) code. The project consists of a Radiative Transfer (RT) solver coupled to a Thermochemical Equilibrium Abundance (TEA, project leaded by J. Blecic) code and a Bayesian MCMC sampler (MC3, see below), will model exoplanet emission and transmisison spectra. This package will further retrieve atmospheric properties upon comparing the theoretical spectra with eclipse and transit data. The RT code is a 1D line-by-line radiative-transfer C code, modified from Patricio Rojo's transit code. The following video shows an example of emission spectra for eclipse event for specific molecules:
Statistics: Multi-core Markov-Chain Monte Carlo (MC3)
The MC3 package provides a set of routines to sample the posterior probability distributions for the model-fitting parameters. MC3 uses Bayesian Inference through a Markov-chain Monte Carlo algorithm following, either, Differential-Evolution (recomended) or Metropolis Random Walk. It handles Bayesian priors, Gelman-Rubin convergence test, or shared parameters. MC3 runs from the terminal command line or interactively through the Python interpreter.
MC3 is a Python (with C extensions) open-source code distributed through the Github site: github.com/pcubillos/MCcubed and the associated publication (coming soon).
Data Analysis: Spitzer Eclipse/Transit Light-Curve Modeling
At UCF I've been one of the main developers of our Photometry for Orbits, Eclipses and Transits (POET) pipeline to reduce and model Spitzer exoplanet lightcurves (eclipses, transits, and orbits). This is a Python (with C extensions), multiprocessor, and modular data analysis tool. POET implements Bayesian principles for model selection and a robust statistical assessment of the model-parameter uncertainties through MCMC analyses.
Using POET, I have led two publications on the cool Jupiter-sized
planets WASP-8b and TrES-1 (<1200 K). WASP-8b is an interesting guy, because it is in a very eccentric orbit, here's a toy model of its temperature developed for this analysis (more details in the Youtube description):
Data Analysis: High-Resolution Spectroscopy
For my master project at the Universidad de Chile, I analyzed high-resolution spectra of the extrasolar planet HD 217107b. We searched for the orbital Doppler-shift signature of the planet motion. You can download and take a look at my work here:
- P. Cubillos M.Sc. Thesis.
Jobs:
Do you like my work? Do you want to collaborate? Do you want to hire me? Send me an e-mail and/or take a look at my Curriculum Vitae.
People: UCF exoplanet group
Here's the most recent (~Summer, 2010) group picture of the exoplanet group at UCF (in nearly chromatic order):
From left to right: Top: Sarah Nymyer, Chris Campo, Jasmina Blecic, Joe Harrington, Kevin Stevenson, Nate Lust. Bottom: Ryan Hardy, Chris Britt, Carthik Sharma, Patricio Cubillos, William Bowman.
