I’m Patrick Horlaville, presently a Master’s student in Physics at Bishop’s University in the Multi-Messenger Astrophysics Research group under the supervision of Prof. John Ruan. I am a junior astronomy researcher broadly interested in cosmology and supermassive black holes, notably in the unique relationship they share with their host galaxies and the mechanisms that can bring them to merge with each other.

I am actively looking for a PhD position in physics/astronomy starting Fall 2025! If my profile sparks your interest and you would like to know more about me, drop me an email!

Research Activities

For my Master’s thesis, I am working on a project whose objective is to develop a novel method to identify candidate host galaxies of supermassive black hole binary systems. In the near future, when pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) are going to report the first detection of a gravitational wave signal emanating from a single supermassive black hole binary system, it’s going to be the race towards identifying the host galaxy of that system! My project’s goal is to predict the best potential host galaxies from which those gravitational waves may be coming from, by notably using the stellar kinematic and surface brightness signatures of the host galaxy.

Prior to my Master’s degree, I completed my undergraduate studies in honours physics (BSc.) at McGill University, where I wrote my honours thesis in the cosmology group of Prof. Matt Dobbs. While a student at McGill, I participated to various research projects, including at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics in Toronto as a Summer Undegraduate Research Fellow under the supervision of Dr. Dongwoo Chung and Prof. Dick Bond.

For more details on my research activities and interests, I refer you to my CV and my Research page!

Other Interests

I nurture multiple interests outside of academia and research. If you’re interested, I encourage you to have a look at my Other Interests page!

Biographical Information

Originally hailing from a tiny village in a forest located in Picardie, France, I have now lived the last 12 years of my life in the province of Quebec, Canada, where I completed my high school and undergraduate studies in Physics. Currently residing in Sherbrooke, located near Bishop’s University, I mainly lived in Montreal while in Quebec. When asked the fatal question “where do you come from?”, I often struggle to answer, but I like to say that I am a “franco-montrealer”, embracing both my french roots and the values I grew to absorb in Montreal.