Research

My research is focused on understanding the formation and evolution of planetary systems following the dispersal of the protoplanetary disc and through the main sequence, when it is expected that only planets and planetesimals remain. Through events such as collisions, these planetesimals can form observable belts of dust and gas, detectable with modern astronomical instruments. But when and where do these planetesimals form? How might this vary within and across different star forming regions? What dominates the evolution of the youngest planetesimal discs over short and longer-term timescales, and what controls the morphology of those we can observe?

To explore and answer these questions, I observe, analyse and model the circumstellar dust and gas of populations of discs [1, 4] and conduct detailed investigations of individual systems [2, 3] primarily with high-resolution sub-mm ALMA image. However to probe the different regions of and processes within planetary systems, I work with scattered light images, near- and mid-IR spectroscopic data, and multi-wavelength photometry.

I am involved in a number of ongoing projects analysing stellar and disc demographics in young star forming regions, and modelling the morphology of debris discs. My primary PhD supervisor is Prof. Mark Wyatt and my secondary supervisor is Dr Amy Bonsor.

I am now in the final year of my PhD and am currently seeking fellowships and/or post-doctoral positions in which I can continue researching how young discs and planetary systems form and evolve.

You can see more about what I do on my personal web page.

Selected papers

First Author:
1. ALMA Survey of Lupus Class III Stars: Early Planetesimal Belt Formation and Rapid Disk Dispersal (28/10/2020)
J. B. Lovell, M. C. Wyatt, M. Ansdell, M. Kama, G. M. Kennedy, C. F. Manara, S. Marino, L. Matrà, G. Rosotti, M. Tazzari, L. Testi, J. P. Williams

2. Rapid CO gas dispersal from NO Lup's class III circumstellar disc (30/11/2020)
J. B. Lovell, G. M. Kennedy, S. Marino, M. C. Wyatt, M. Ansdell, M. Kama, C. F. Manara, L. Matrà, G. Rosotti, M. Tazzari, L. Testi, J. P. Williams

3. High resolution ALMA and HST images of q1 Eri: an asymmetric debris disc with an eccentric Jupiter (14/06/2021)
J. B. Lovell, S. Marino, M. C. Wyatt, G. M. Kennedy, M. A. MacGregor, K. Stapelfeldt, B. Dent, J. Krist, L. Matrà, Q. Kral, O. Panić, Pearce, T. D. Pearce, D. Wilner

Co-author:
4. The effect of stellar multiplicity on protoplanetary discs. A NIR survey of the Lupus star forming region (27/11/2020)
A. Zurlo, L. A. Cieza, M. Ansdell, V. Christiaens, S. Pérez, J. B. Lovell, D. Mesa, J. P. Williams, C. Gonzalez-Ruilova, R. Carraro, D. Ruíz-Rodríguez, M.C. Wyatt

Full publication record: ORCID 0000-0002-4248-5443
 

Qualifications

PhD: Astronomy, University of Cambridge, (2018-Present)

MASt: Astrophysics, University of Cambridge, (2017-2018)

MA: Natural Science (Astrophysics), University of Cambridge, (2010-2013)

Between my Undergraduate and Masters degrees I worked as a systems engineer on a number of major engineering programmes in both aerospace (Nov 2013 - Mar 2016) and in civil engineering (Mar 2016 - Aug 2017).

Recorded Talks
Five Years on from HL Tau - Virtual Conference: ALMA survey of Lupus Class III stars: Early planetesimal belt formation and rapid disc dispersal (Nov 2020)

Press Releases/News Features
Fast-moving gas flowing away from young star’s asteroid belt may be caused by icy comet vaporisation (30/11/2020)

ALMA Regional Centre (EU) March 2021 Newsletter: Featured Science Highlight (March 2021)

Conference Posters
Five Years on from HL Tau - Virtual Conference: What exists beyond exo-Jupiters? A high resolution study of q1 Eri (Dec 2020)