Tomás Cassanelli

¡Hola! 👋🏼 I'm Dr. Tomás Cassanelli, Astronomer and Assistant Professor of astronomical instrumentation

About Me

I'm an Assistant Prof. of astronomical instrumentation at the Facultad Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas (FCFM) at Universidad de Chile (UChile). I completed my PhD studies at David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto (UofT), Canada. Prior to starting my PhD, I completed an Astrophysics MSc at Universität Bonn and Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie (MPIfR), Germany; as well as an Applied Physics and Mechanical Engineering BSc at Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO), Chile.

Research

My primary lines of research are radio--optical sub-second transients 💥 and their localization, very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI), radio--optical astronomical instrumentation, optical fast photon counters, and holography for radio telescopes 📡 (from centimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths). My PhD thesis research focused on the detection of fast radio bursts (FRBs) with VLBI with a 3000 km baseline from British Columbia to Ontario using the telescopes: Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) and the Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO). I'm a member of the Millimeter-Wave Laboratory, the CHIME/FRB Collaboration, and adjunct member of the Center for Astrophysics and Associated Technologies. You can find my CV here and institutional biosketch here.

My research group is AstroLab a multi-disciplinary team based at UChile. We are faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students, working together towards undestanding astronomical instrumentation and transient events. To learn more about our local projects (e.g., the Canadian-Chilean array for radio transient studies; CHARTS) and international collaborations visit our website: AstroLab

AstroLab research group

Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope

Algonquin radio 10-m dish

Test sub-mm band ALMA

Gemini South 8.1-m dish

ALMA 12-m radio dish

Recent Science Publications

0000-0003-2047-5276

T. Cassanelli, J. Mena-Parra, S. Manosalva et al, 2025. Canadian-Chilean Array for Radio Transient Studies (CHARTS): Analog System Developments. IEEE.

T. Cassanelli, C. Leung, and P. Sanghavi et al, 2024. A fast radio burst localized at detection to an edge-on galaxy using very-long-baseline interferometry. Nature Astronomy.

T. Cassanelli et al, 2024. Out-of-focus holography at the Effelsberg telescope. Astronomy & Astrophysics.

T. Cassanelli et al, 2022. New technique for determining a pulsar period: Waterfall principal component analysis. Astronomy & Astrophysics.

T. Cassanelli et al, 2022. Localizing FRBs through VLBI with the Algonquin Radio Observatory 10-m Telescope. The Astronomical Journal.

The CHIME/FRB Collaboration et al, incl. T. Cassanelli, 2021. The First CHIME/FRB Fast Radio Burst Catalog. The Astrophysical Journal Supplements.

The CHIME/FRB Collaboration et al, incl. T. Cassanelli, 2020. A bright millisecond-duration radio burst from a Galactic magnetar. Nature.

For a complete and up-to-date list visit NASA/ADS.

Software

T. Cassanelli et al, 2022. New technique for determining a pulsar period: Waterfall principal component analysis. Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Science Talks

FRB2023 Conference (Discussion: hidden parameter spaces)

FRB2021 Conference (Breaking news session)

FRB2020 Conference (Technical developments session)

Teaching

I have taught over a wide range of courses from science (physics and astronomy) to applied engineering (mechanics and electronics), at Universidad de La Frontera, Universidad de Chile, and astronomical instrumentation at the Dunlap Summer School, University of Toronto.

Applied Electromagnetism (EL3103; online lecture notes Spanish only)
Radio astronomy: applications, tools, and impact (EL7053)

Outreach

Research communities Springer Nature: A VLBI-localized FRB probes the ISM at z ~ 0.2
Volunteer at Skype a Scientist (Jan, 2020)
Other outreach events through Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics: Astronomy on Tap Toronto, Doors Open Toronto, and Space Time Toronto
ECLIPSE 2020 Universidad de La Frontera (Spanish only): El Radio Universo Desconocido (The Uknown Radio Universe)

Media Appearances

Nuevo fotómetro liderado por chilenos ve su primera luz en Observatorio Gemini Sur (Apr, 2025)
Nuevo instrumento astronómico liderado por chilenos ve su primera luz en Observatorio Gemini Sur (Apr, 2025)
IQUEYE on Gemini South Sees First Light (Mar, 2025)
FCFM lidera investigación científica con siete nuevos proyectos Fondecyt (Jan, 2025)
Más de 350 millones de pesos en dos proyecto QUIMAL (Dic, 2023)
Universidad de Chile inaugura cámara anecoica para la investigación de antenas, sensores y sistemas de radiofrecuencias (Jun, 2023)
Dunlap Institute Graduate student of the month (Sep, 2021)
Titulado UFRO forma parte de importante hito astrofísico (Nov, 2020)
Detection of a radio burst in Milky Way could resolve origins of mysterious phenomenon (Nov, 2020)

Contact

email 📧 tcassanelli@ing.uchile.cl

Address

Departamento Ingeniería Eléctrica, Universidad de Chile, Av. Tupper 2007, Santiago 8370451, Chile.