My Work
I currently work on my PhD at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) where I study the interplay between large hot gas reservoirs within galaxy clusters -- known as the intra cluster medium (ICM) -- and the cold gas located in and around galaxies. In my thesis, I further explore non-conventional detection methods, such as Bayesian-forward-modelling techniques in the uv-plane, to analyze astrophysical processes associated with the ICM.
This work is a natural extension of the research done in my Master theses. There, I experimented with another non-conventional detection method, namely a matched filter applied in the uv-plane, that resulted in the first detection of HCO+(4-3) in a z>2 dusty star-forming galaxy. In my other Master thesis, I created toy models and mock observations of galaxy clusters based on the hydrodynamical simulation BAHAMAS. With these models and mock observations, I studied the effects of gas clumping in the ICM on the position of a galaxy cluster in the Luminosity-Halo mass relation.
All my studies allowed me to combine my brought astronomical interests -- from observational cosmology to high-resolution observations of the centres of galaxies -- with my technical programming skills I developed over the last few years.
Master Theses
At Leiden University
A Needle in a Haystack (Supervised by M. Rybak is & J. Hodge):
Detecting dense gas tracers in the z=3, gravitationally lensed SMG, SDP.81 through a matched filter in the uv-plane.

Enabling Precision Cosmology with Galaxy Clusters (Supervised by H. Hoekstra & S. Debackere):
An idealized study on how gas clumping affects the X-ray luminosity with the use of semi-analytical modeling.

Current Projects
Studies on the ICM astrophysics and its an impact on the multifaceted
processes driving galaxy evolution:
The Strongest cool core in REXCESS: Missing X-ray Cavities in RXC J2014.8-2430? (Tony Mroczkowski, Megan Donahue, Joshiwa van Marrewijk et al., in prep)
The impact of sloshing and surrounding pressure distribution on the morphology of the gas in the BCG of the brightest cool core cluster: RXC-J2014.8-2430. (Joshiwa van Marrewijk, Tony Mroczkowski, Luca di Mascolo, Gergö Popping, et al., in prep)
Studies on the origin of extreme star busts galaxies at high-z:
Monsters with empty bellies? Low dense-gas fractions in high-z
dusty star-forming galaxies (M. Rybak, J. Hodge, J. van Marrewijk et al., in prep)
Proposals
SZ view of galaxy clusters across the transition phase for environmental quenching. (PI: L. Di Mascolo)