Research

I'm a final-year PhD student working on exoplanet atmospheres with my supervisor Dr Nikku Madhusudhan. 

I study the atmospheres of a wide range of exoplanets, from temperate low-mass planets to highly-irradiated gas giants and isolated brown dwarfs. I'm especially interested in what the emission spectra of these atmospheres can tell us about their temperature profiles, energy transport, potential surface/interior properties and atmospheric chemistry/clouds. In my work, I use self-consistent atmospheric models to understand how various physical processes affect the temperature profile and emission spectrum of the atmosphere. I also use atmospheric retrievals to understand what we can learn about these planets with observations from facilities such as the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.

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Selected papers

• Temperature profiles and emission spectra of mini-Neptune atmospheres, ​Piette, A. A. A., Madhusudhan, N. , manuscript in review
• Considerations for atmospheric retrieval of high-precision brown-dwarf spectra, ​Piette, A. A. A., Madhusudhan, N. (2020) , MNRAS, in press
• Assessing spectra and thermal inversions due to TiO in hot Jupiter atmospheres, ​Piette, A. A. A., Madhusudhan, N., McKemmish, L. K., Gandhi, S., Masseron, T., Welbanks, L. (2020), MNRAS, 496, 3870
• TESS unveils the optical phase curve of KELT-1b. Thermal emission and ellipsoidal variation from the brown dwarf companion, and activity from the star, von Essen, C., Mallonn, M., Cowan, N. B., Piette, A., Madhusudhan, N., Agol, E., Antoci, V., Poppenhaeger, K., Stassun, K. G., Khalafinejad, S., Tautvaišienė, G., manuscript in review
• The Interior and Atmosphere of the Habitable-zone Exoplanet K2-18b, Madhusudhan, N., Nixon, M. C., Welbanks, L., Piette, A. A. A., Booth, R. A. (2020), ApJL, 891, L7

• Warm exo-Zodi from cool exo-Kuiper belts: the significance of P-R drag and the inference of intervening planets, Kennedy, G. M., Piette, A. (2015), MNRAS, 449, 2304

 

Career

2017-present    

Astronomy PhD, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge. Supervisor: Dr Nikku Madhusudhan.

Supervisor for Undergraduate Astrophysics, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge

Supervisor for Undergraduate Physics, Pembroke College, Cambridge

2016    

Summer research project with Antonia Rowlinson & Jess Broderick, ASTRON, Netherlands

2014    

Summer research project with Grant Kennedy, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge

2016-2017    

MSci, Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge 

2012-2016    

BA, Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge 

 

Qualifications

PhD, Astronomy, Supervisor: Dr Nikku Madhusudhan - University of Cambridge (2017-present) 

MSci, Natural Sciences (1st class) - University of Cambridge (2016-2017)

BA, Natural Sciences (1st class) - University of Cambridge (2012-2016)

 

Awards and Prizes

2017-2021  UK STFC Ph.D. Studentship

2013-2017  Pembroke College Foundation Scholar

2016           Dr Stevens Prize for Natural Science

2016           ASTRON/JIVE Summer Studentship

2014           Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, Summer Studentship

2012           Cuthbert Award for Science