I'm Patrick Dorval (he/him)

I am a PhD candidate in Astronomy and Instrumentation at Leiden University, whose work focuses on detecting exoplanets. With Prof. Ignas Snellen and Prof. Frans Snik, my main project is on the Dutch work package for the HARPS3 instrument, to be commisioned on the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) on La Palma as part of the Terra Hunting Experiment (more information on HARPS3 and the Terra Hunting Experiment can be found here). This primary project relates to the design, construction, and verification of the Cassegrain Adaptor Unit and Calibration Unit, including the optical design, mechanical specifications, and full end-to-end systems tests and considerations to meet the scientific requirements of HARPS3. Much of this work relates to the polarimetric requirements, which require special considerations in both design and verification tests.

Alongside this work, I have two secondary projects. The first one relates to developing methods to mitigate stellar activity noise in radial velocity techniques. I adapted techniques currently used to characterize exoplanet atmospheres to instead characterize a measure of starspot activity on the surface of an unresolved star in unpolarized light, which is then used to remove the starspot's influence on the radial velocity measurements. I expect the paper to be submitted before the end of 2020. The second project relates to work that I've continued and expanded from the Master's thesis - observing stars with the MASCARA and bRing photometric observatories to find transiting planets around bright stars. I help maintain the network, reduce data, and search for periodic signals in the MASCARA and bRing data, and collaborate with an international team for obtaining radial velocity data on candidates that we find.

I was born and grew up in Toronto, Canada, obtaining my High School diploma from De La Salle "Oaklands" and my BSc Honours from the University of Toronto, with a Specialization in Physics and a Major in Astronomy. During my bachelor's, I worked on two separate projects. My bachelor's thesis was done under the supervision of Professor Shelley Wright for the first near-infrared SETI instrument, commissioned in March 2015. My second project was done with Professor Keith Vanderlinde, and was on making anti-reflection lenslets for the SPT-3G instrument. At Leiden University for my Master's degree, I worked with Prof. Matthew Kenworthy on building an instrument called bRing to observe the Hill sphere transit of β Pictoris b, which I still work on to detect exoplanets as part of my PhD.

Outside of science, my hobbies include tabletop RPGs, 3D printing, board games, sci-fi and fantasy books, and camping. I believe that astronomers must commit to new ways to reduce our carbon footprints, and enjoy discussions on that topic. I am a firm believer in human rights, and as such stand in support and work to do my best to be an ally of LGBTQ+ communities and Black Lives Matter.