Click here to view my full CV (last updated 25/08/26).
Below is a detailed list of my scientific publications, talks, attended conferences, and additional training that are not included in my CV.
Publications as single author
| 2026 | Dynamical friction on binary stars in dark matter dominated environments Nicolas Esser | Preprint |
| 2025 | Primordial black hole-star binaries via dynamical friction Nicolas Esser | Physical Review D |
Publications as first author
| 2026 | Gravitational waves from primordial black holes passing by neutron stars: observational prospects for the Galactic center Nicolas Esser, Juan García-Bellido, Peter Tinyakov | Physical Review D |
| 2025 | Constraints on asteroid-mass primordial black holes in dwarf galaxies using Hubble Space Telescope photometry Nicolas Esser, Carrie Filion, Sven De Rijcke, Nitya Kallivayalil, Hannah Richstein, Peter Tinyakov, Rosemary F.G. Wyse | Astronomy & Astrophysics |
| 2024 | The impact of primordial black holes on the stellar mass function of ultra-faint dwarf galaxies Nicolas Esser, Sven De Rijcke, Peter Tinyakov | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
| 2023 | Constraints on primordial black holes from observation of stars in dwarf galaxies Nicolas Esser and Peter Tinyakov | Physical Review D |
Publications as co-author
| 2026 | Collisional Dynamics of Stars and Dark Matter in Ultra-Faint Galaxies Raphaël Errani, Nicolas Esser, Jorge Peñarrubia, Matthew G. Walker | The Astrophysical Journal |
Contributed & invited Talks at Conferences
| July 2026 | Dark Matter and Stars 2026 , University of Southampton, UK |
| May 2026 | RER-S8 Cosmology Meeting , UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium |
| September 2025 | Invited talk at News from the Dark 2025 , Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier, France |
| September 2025 | Invisibles 2025 , CERN, Switzerland |
| August 2025 | Black Holes & Cosmology , University of Iceland, Reykjavik |
| June 2025 | European Astronomical Society Annual Meeting 2025 , University College Cork, Ireland |
| May 2025 | New Horizons in Primordial Black Hole Physics 2025 , Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| May 2025 | 5th EuCAPT Annual Symposium , CERN, Switzerland (online) |
| June 2024 | New Horizons in Primordial Black Hole Physics 2024 , National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh |
| December 2023 | Future Perspectives on Primordial Black Holes , Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy |
| November 2022 | Dark Matters 2022 , Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| April 2022 | Mini-Workshop on Primordial Black Holes , Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
Invited Seminars
| May 2026 | UGent Astronomy group, Ghent University, Belgium |
| December 2025 | GRAPPA, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| November 2025 | Yale Department of Astronomy, New Haven, USA |
| August 2025 | Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany |
| April 2023 | UGent Astronomy group, Ghent University, Belgium |
Other Scientific Presentations
| March 2025 | First UNDARK school on Astrophysical and Cosmological probes of BSM , Benasque Science Center, Spain |
| March 2025 | BLU-ULB annual meeting , Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| November 2023 | BLU-PANDA PhD day , Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| September 2022 | AScBr presentation , Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| 2022-2026 | Theoretical Physics Group's weekly journal clubs , Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
Conferences
I had the opportunity to talk at most major conferences I attended to, so please refer to the 'Contributed Talks' section above. I was also member of the organising committee of the New Horizons in Primordial Black Holes 2025 and of the News from the Dark 2023 conferences in Brussels.
Scientific Schools
| March 2025 | First UNDARK school on Astrophysical and Cosmological probes of BSM , Benasque Science Center, Spain |
| September 2023 | First EuCAPT School: Cosmology , Universitat de València, Spain |
| March 2023 | GGI school on Theoretical Aspects of Astroparticle Physics, Cosmology and Gravitation 2023 , Galileo Galilei Institute, Firenze, Italy |
Additional Training and Soft Skills
| January 2026 | Training in version control (7 hours), by Philip Davis (LPC), Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| February–May 2024 | Speech coaching for "My Thesis in 180 Seconds" (3 days), by Sophie Dussart, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| October 2023 | Lectures: Introduction to Machine Learning Methods (8 hours), by Bryan Zaldivar (IFIC), Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| May 2023 | Spring School: How to Communicate Your Research (2 days), Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| October 2022 | Lectures: Bayesian Statistics for Cosmology with Cobaya (7 hours), by Jesús Torrado, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium |
| I also attended a variety of individual talks and one-day seminars, including Solvay Seminars, BEL Colloquia, Be.H Solstice Meetings, PhysTH weekly seminars and journal clubs, as well as many other seminars across various institutes. | |