After the successful defense of his thesis, Regis Cartier prepares for a postdoc at the University of Southampton, England.

Accompanied by his family and friends, the PhD student of the Department of Astronomy (DAS) at the University of Chile, Regis Cartier, received the degree of Doctor amid the congratulations of the Academic Committee composed by DAS academics Paulina Lira and Ricardo Muñoz; and external teachers Paolo Coppi (Yale University, USA), Patricia Arévalo (University of Valparaíso), and Franz Bauer (Catholic University of Chile).

The young scientist presented his thesis entitled Characterization of the Optical Variability of Supermassive Black Holes. This research involved the study of active galactic nuclei (AGN), galaxies whose center contains a supermassive black hole "swallowing" material, and causing the nearby region to become incandescent and very variable.

"The thesis sought to understand this variability, by determining the ways to characterize it and eventually the physical parameters involved", said his research advisor Paulina Lira. In that purpose, Cartier used a wide-field telescope at La Silla Observatory, in order to capture multiple images of different regions of the sky taken at different periods of time. This way, he could detect variable objects and characterize them.

After the successful defense, the new Doctor of DAS thanked his classmates, teachers, family and department officials for their support during his years of study.