Background

During a visit to the Planetarium at the Palais de la Découverte in Paris, Kevin Belkacem, still a high school student, had the good fortune to meet an astrophysicist and discovered his love for astronomy. In September 2000 he began university studies in physical sciences in Paris. Graduating in 2005, he continued his studies and began a doctoral dissertation at l’Observatoire de Paris on the origin of the energy that produces oscillations on the sun’s surface. His research led him to model the fluid dynamics within the sun and to demonstrate that the same physical processes are at work in massive stars, which led to the measurement of the oscillations by the CoRoT satellite. The hypothesis was verified by the observations.

After defending his dissertation in October 2008, he became a post-doctoral researcher in the Theoretical Stellar Astrophysics and Astroseismology unit at the University of Liège, which has a worldwide reputation for its theoretical research in astroseismology.

Selection of publications

Belkacem K., Samadi R., Goupil M.J., Lefèvre L., Baudin F., Deheuvels S., Dupret M.A., Appourchaux T., Scuflaire R., Auvergne M., Catala C., Michel E., Miglio A., Montalban J., Thoul A., Talon S., Baglin A., Noels A., Solar-like oscillations in a massive star, Science

Dupret M.A., Belkacem K., Samadi R., Montalban J., Moreira O., Miglio A., Godart M., Ventura P., Ludwig H.-G., Grigahcène A., Goupil M.-J, Noels A., Caffau, E., Theoretical amplitudes and lifetimes of non-radial solar-like oscillations in red giants, Astronomy & Astrophysics (in press)

Belkacem K., Samadi R., Goupil M. J., Dupret M. A., Brun A. S., Baudin F., Stochastic excitation of nonradial modes. II. Are solar asymptotic gravity modes detectable?, 2009, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 494, 191B

Samadi R., Belkacem K., Goupil M. J., Dupret M.-A., Kupka F., Modeling the excitation of acoustic modes in α Centauri A, 2008, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 489, 291S

Belkacem K, Samadi R, Goupil M.-J., Dupret M.-A., Stochastic excitation of non-radial modes. I. High-angular-degree p modes, 2008, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 478, 163

Belkacem K, Samadi R, Goupil M. J., Kupka F., Baudin F., A closure model with plumes. II. Application to the stochastic excitation of solar p modes, 2006, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 460, 183