Radek Smolec
I am associate professor at Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center (NCAC) in Warsaw. In 2009-2011 I was a postdoctoral researcher in Institute of Astronomy, University of Vienna.
My work focuses on classical pulsators: RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids. I analyse photometric data for these stars and model their variability with nonlinear convective pulsation codes. The active and finished projects I'm leading are:
- Classical Cepheids as testbeds for stellar evolution and pulsation theories, SONATA BIS/NCN;
- Classical pulsators through diverse stellar systems: contrast between pulsation modes, OPUS/NCN; finished
- Multi-mode, non-radial and modulated pulsation of RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids, OPUS/NCN; finished
- Period doubling and chaos in hydrodynamic type-II Cepheid models, Iuventus+/MNiSW; finished
I am a member of the Araucaria group. I model pulsating stars in eclispsing binary systems observed by the group and model the stellar evolution of the binary system components using MESA stellar evolution code, for which I serve as a developer.
Habilitation in 2016. I obtained my PhD in 2009 at NCAC. You can download my PhD Thesis, Nonlinear modelling of radial stellar pulsation (PDF) and my MSc thesis Metalicznosc gwiazd RR Lutni a efekt Blazki (in Polish).
I enjoy to watch butterflies. See some of my photos.
Last update: Mar 2024