About Me
I am a chilean Radioastronomer currently working at the ESO Headquarters in Munich, Germany. My research is
focused on how protostars and their disks gain their mass. My expertise is in the
submillimeter regime, in particular, the kinematic analysis of molecular gas to understand the flow of material at diverse
physical scales.
Education: PhD (2024) at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.
BSc and MSc from Universidad de Chile
Research Interests: Early stages of star and planet formation, radioastronomy, interferometry, and astrochemistry.
Publications: Click here for a full ADS list!
Research
My research so far has focused on characterizing streamers. I am keen to determine what is their role in the star and planet formation process. Nevertheless, I
have been involved in projects covering a broad range of star formation topics, from the survival of molecular clumps under extreme irradiation, to the rich
chemistry found in outflows powered by young protostars. You can find all of my articles here.
Recent paper highlights:
- Valdivia-Mena et al. 2026:
PRODIGE ─ Envelope to disk with NOEMA: VIII. Sulfur oxides trace a shock caused by a streamer in the inner envelope of a protostar. (A&A)
- Busch et al. 2026:
PRODIGE - envelope to disk with NOEMA: VII. (Complex) organic molecules in the NGC1333 IRAS4B1 outflow: A new laboratory for shock chemistry. (A&A)
- Gieser et al. 2025:
ANTIHEROES-PRODIGE: Quantifying the connection from the envelope to the disk with the IRAM 30 m telescope and NOEMA I. Infalling streamers in L1448N. (A&A)
Protostars and Disks, Global Evolution (PRODIGE) NOEMA Large Program:
I am an active member of the PRODIGE Max Planck/IRAM Large Program (PI: Caselli and Henning), where I have been involved in the data
reduction and imaging team, and published two first-author papers so far: see here
and here. For more information about PRODIGE, see the
program website.
Quantifying the connection from the envelope to the disk with MIOP-PRODIGE (ANTIHEROES) 30m Large Program:
I am an active member of the ANTIHEROES IRAM 30m large program (PI: Gieser), where I have been involved in the telescope observations and data analysis.
Our first paper highlights the need for the 30m to recover the correct spectral shape
of molecular lines in the envelopes of protostars.
Probing the Physics of Star formation (ProPStar):
I am an active member of the ProPStar collaboration, consisting of NOEMA and 30m observations of the southern region of the Perseus Molecular Cloud,
and in the near future, covering several more regions in Perseus with the VLA. So far, we have published three papers,
one of which I authored.
Contact
Feel free to contact me for any questions or comments you have!
Email: terevaldiviamena@gmail.com or mariateresa.valdiviamena@eso.org
Address: Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching
