SAHAR SHAHAF
astrophysics postdoctoral fellow
About
I am a Benoziyo prize postdoctoral fellow at the Benoziyo Center for Astrophysics of the Weizmann Institute of Science. My research is focused on the detection of extra-solar planets and binary stars and the characterization of their populations. I am also interested in utilizing advanced statistical methods to analyze astronomical data.
I completed my Ph.D. in astrophysics in 2022, working under the supervision of Prof. Tsevi Mazeh in the Astrophysics Department of Tel-Aviv University. Before that, I got a B.Sc. in physics & mathematics from Tel-Aviv University.
Research Interests
I study exoplanets and binary stars, mostly focusing on their detection on the one hand and the empirical properties of their populations on the other. I am also generally interested in developing and applying techniques for astronomical data analysis.
My current work is mostly related to improving Doppler precision by mitigating stellar activity; finding stars with non-interacting compact companions and studying their orbital properties; photometric detection of ultra-short-period planets; and characterization of exoplanetary systems exhibiting transit timing and duration variations.
Source Code
Some of the code I developed for my research is publically available online.
fBLS
A fast-folding algorithm to detect transiting planets. fBLS is fast and scalable. We use it to search for ultra-short-period planets in Kepler data. The code is available in this repository.
PDC periodograms
A set of model-independent methods to search for periodic signals in photometric, spectroscopic, or astrometric time series. The code is available in this repository.
Precision velocities
A factorization method to extract precise radial velocities while mitigating the effect of stellar activity. An example is available in this repository.
Modified mass function
The modified mass function is an observable of single-lined binaries. When computed for the entire sample, it qualitatively reflects the properties of the unknown mass-ratio distribution. This repository contains routines to calculate it.
Public Outreach
I was one of the organizers of the AstroClub at Tel-Aviv University, a public outreach organization operated voluntarily by graduate students. All AstroClub activities are open to the general public, including monthly lectures given by leading scientists, stargazing events, and open-house events held at the Wise Observatory. I also give outreach lectures to high-school students and volunteer in the iScientist project by the Davidson Institute.
Recorded talks
Department of particle physics and astrophysics
Weizmann Institute of Science
Rehovot, 7610001, Israel
Benoziyo Physics building, room 287