Thiébaut-Antoine Schirmer

Cosmic dust plays a crucial role in the physico-chemistry of the Universe. The dust properties (i.e. composition, size, and shape) are however still not well understood. In addition, the wide disparity in physical conditions (i.e. irradiation and density) across the Universe triggers an evolution of the dust properties through phenomena such as accretion, coagulation, destruction. My main objective is to understand how dust evolves as a response to the physical conditions and to constrain its properties.

Based on observations from the infrared to the millimeter range, I study dust properties in various environments, from their creation in the atmosphere of evolved stars (AGBs) to the early universe in highredshift galaxies, through extreme environments nearby AGNs.