Dr. Joost Wardenier 🪐

Planetary Astrophysicist @ University of Bern

Grüessech and welcome to my webpage! I am an SNSF Postdoctoral Researcher within the division of Space Research & Planetary Sciences at the University of Bern, Switzerland. My work focuses on the characterization of the 3D structure of exoplanet atmospheres — in particular those of ultra-hot Jupiters. In this context, I use a combination of computer models and telescope data to bridge the gap between theory and observation. I am the PI of a JWST cycle 3 program that observed the thermal phase curve of WASP-76b and a JWST cycle 4 program that targeted the secondary eclipse of KELT-20b. Furthermore, I serve as a science-team member within the NIRPS consortium.

Before moving to Switzerland, I was a Trottier Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) at Université de Montréal. In 2023, I completed my PhD in Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Planetary Physics at the University of Oxford. My thesis was titled "Exploring the 3D structure of ultra-hot Jupiters using ground-based high-resolution spectroscopy". Prior to this, I obtained two bachelor's degrees (Physics and Astronomy) and a master's degree (Astrophysics) from Leiden University in the Netherlands. During my master's, I was a visiting student at TU Delft and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA). In 2019, my master's thesis on holographic aperture masking was named the best of the year in Astronomy by the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW).

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions about my work or if you would like to collaborate!

Research highlights

The list below provides an overview of my first-, second-, and third-authored publications, which mainly focus on high-resolution spectroscopy and radiative transfer. Clicking the figures will take you to the paper's webpage on the publisher's site. All papers are also available on ArXiv.

Wardenier et al. (2026) — A&A

"Parametrizing the projected wind fields of ultra-hot Jupiters in thermal emission: an application to GCM spectra of WASP-76b"
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202659973

Zhang, Wardenier et al. (2026) — ApJL

"Extreme winds on the emerging dayside of an ultrahot Jupiter"
DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ae36a1

Wardenier et al. (2025) — ApJ

"From pre-transit to post-eclipse: investigating the impact of 3D temperature, chemistry, and dynamics on high-resolution emission spectra of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-76b"
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/add341

Simonnin, Parmentier, Wardenier et al. (2025) — A&A

"Time-resolved absorption of six chemical species with MAROON-X points to a strong drag in the ultra-hot Jupiter TOI-1518 b"
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202453241

Wardenier et al. (2024) — PASP

"Phase-resolving the absorption signatures of water and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-121b with Gemini-S/IGRINS"
DOI: 10.1088/1538-3873/ad5c9f

Weiner Mansfield, Line, Wardenier et al. (2024) — AJ

"The metallicity and carbon-to-oxygen ratio of the ultrahot Jupiter WASP-76b from Gemini-S/IGRINS"
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ad4a5f

Wardenier et al. (2023) — MNRAS

"Modelling the effect of 3D temperature and chemistry on the cross-correlation signal of transiting ultra-hot Jupiters: a study of 5 chemical species on WASP-76b"
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stad2586

Wardenier et al. (2022) — MNRAS

"All along the line of sight: a closer look at opening angles and absorption regions in the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets"
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab3432

Lee, Wardenier et al. (2021) — ApJ

"3D radiative-transfer for exoplanet atmospheres. gCMCRT: a GPU accelerated MCRT code"
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac61d6

Wardenier et al. (2021) — MNRAS

"Decomposing the iron cross-correlation signal of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-76b in transmission using 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer"
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab1797

Doelman, Wardenier et al. (2021) — A&A

"First light of a holographic aperture mask: Observation at the Keck OSIRIS Imager"
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202039027

Mollière, Wardenier et al. (2019) — A&A

"petitRADTRANS: a Python radiative transfer package for exoplanet characterization and retrieval"
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201935470

All publications

Please click one of the buttons below to view a full list of my publications on ArXiv, the ADS abstract service, or Google Scholar.

Contact

Dr. Joost P. Wardenier
Space Research & Planetary Sciences
Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern
Gesellschaftsstrasse 6, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
joost [dot] wardenier [at] unibe [dot] ch
ORCID: 0000-0003-3191-2486