Research
My research focuses on observational astrophysics and cosmology, with an emphasis on
time-domain astronomy. I study explosive and variable phenomena such as supernovae,
tidal disruption events, and lensed transients. My work demonstrated the feasibility of discovering
strongly lensed supernovae with ground-based telescopes, leading to the discovery of some of
the most distant core-collapse supernovae to date and placing constraints on their volumetric rates
at very high redshift. I have also used strongly lensed and high-redshift supernovae to
inform cosmological studies. Currently, I study luminous flares from supermassive black holes
and search for short gamma-ray bursts from supernovae potentially induced by axion-like particles,
which are promising dark-matter candidates.
Publications:
See my full list on NASA ADS
here.
Selected Grants & Collaborations
International & Institutional Programmes
-
2024–2026: Erasmus+ Programme — Learning mobility for higher-education students
and staff with Johns Hopkins University. Coordinator: T. Petrushevska;
US coordinator: Prof. Armin Rest.
ARIS-Funded Projects (Slovenian Research Agency)
-
BI-US/24-26-085: Bilateral collaboration with the
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), USA —
Advancing Cosmology with the First Statistical Sample of Gravitationally Lensed Supernovae
(Kozmologija s prvim statističnim vzorcem močno lečenih supernov).
P.I.: T. Petrushevska.
-
BI-VB/23-25-005 (2023–2025): Bilateral collaboration with the
Institute for Astronomy, University of Cambridge (UK) —
Exploring New Frontiers in Stellar Physics and Cosmology with Supernovae and Strong Lensing
(Raziskave v fiziki zvezd in kozmologiji z uporabo supernov in močnega gravitacijskega lečenja).
P.I.: T. Petrushevska.
-
BI-US/22-24-006: Bilateral collaboration with STScI, USA —
Unveiling the Expansion of the Universe with a Novel Strategy: Strongly Lensed Supernovae with the Roman Space Telescope
(Razkrivanje širjenja vesolja z močno lečenimi supernovami z vesoljskim teleskopom Roman).
P.I.: T. Petrushevska.
-
Z1-1853 (2019–2022): Postdoctoral project —
Unveiling the Expansion of the Universe with Strongly Lensed Supernovae
(Razkrivanje širjenja vesolja z močno lečenimi supernovami).
P.I.: T. Petrushevska.
-
BI-US/2019–2021: Bilateral project with the USA —
Unveiling the Nature of Dark Matter: Search for Short Gamma-Ray Bursts from Supernovae Induced by Axion-Like Particles.
P.I.: T. Petrushevska; US coordinator: Dr. Manuel Meyer,
Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (Stanford University).
Strongly Lensed Supernovae
Galaxies and galaxy clusters can act as gravitational lenses, magnifying background galaxies at high
redshift. Supernovae in these galaxies can be detected thanks to the lensing boost, even when they would
otherwise be too faint for current telescopes. In favourable geometries, strong lensing also produces
multiple images of the SN host. Type Ia supernovae are of particular interest due to their standardisable
brightness: they improve lens models and, when multiply imaged, enable independent measurements of the
Hubble constant from time delays. Read more about my work on lensed SNe
here.
Multiple-image Type Ia supernovae detected in recent years include
iPTF16geu,
SN Zwicky,
SN H0pe, and
SN Encore.
Paper by Mateusz Bronikowski on cluster-lensed SN yields from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Luminous Flares from Galactic Nuclei
Wide-field optical surveys have uncovered a diverse population of nuclear transients, including
tidal disruption events (TDEs)—stellar disruptions by supermassive black holes—and
changing-look AGN (CLAGN). Due to overlapping observational properties, distinguishing CLAGN
from TDEs remains challenging, compounded by a historical lack of well-sampled, long-duration datasets.
In our study of PS16dtm,
a nuclear transient in a Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxy, we presented multi-year spectroscopy and photometry
that help contextualise outbursts in NLSy1 systems
(A&A paper).
In another study led by Philip Wiseman (University of Southampton), we analysed the most energetic
non-quasar transient observed, AT2021lwx
(MNRAS), covered by
the Guardian,
BBC,
Time,
and the New York Times.
Artistic impression of detecting axions from supernova explosions with the Fermi satellite. Credit: Maedeh Mohammadpour Mir.
Axion Dark-Matter Search
The nature of dark matter—over 85% of the Universe’s matter content—remains unknown. Many models predict
new fundamental particles. Together with Dr. Manuel Meyer,
we use extra-galactic supernovae to search for axion-like particles. See our
press release
and our Physical Review Letters paper.
Collaborations
I am a member of the following international collaborations:
- 2021–present: ePESSTO+ — advanced Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey for Transient Objects (active in the TDE group)
- 2021–present: LensWatch — targeted searches for lensed supernovae in known strong-lensing systems
- 2019–present: Junior member, International Astronomical Union (IAU)
- 2018–present: Vera C. Rubin Observatory — Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC)
- 2013–2017: intermediate Palomar Transient Factory — candidate vetting, follow-up triggering, and spectroscopic classification
LSST@Europe5 conference (September 2023), organised by our group with the University of Rijeka, the University of Belgrade,
and the Ruđer Bošković Institute. Read more
here.
