Cluster of Galaxies (left) at redshift zero simulated using Sticky Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) by Umberto Maio and (right) the derived molecular fraction from the simulation.
Star formation occurs in Giant Molecular Clouds (GMC) but at early times the physical conditions within these must reflect different physical conditions in the young Universe, for example the greatly increased temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB).
This project aims to increase the mass resolution of current numerical simulations (see above) so that GMCs like the Orion Nebula can be represented by 100s or 1000s of particle rather than <1 in state-of-the-art simulations. The main purpose of this project is to post-process cosmological simulations using codes treating molecular and atomic cooling and chemical evolution in a self-consistent manner. These simulations can be extended to include different cosmological models and forms of dark matter. The output of these simulations will be fed into telescope simulators to compare with data from the Herschel Satellite and the ALMA.
If you are interested in this project
please contact any or all of the supervisors via email.
Joe Silk is the Savilian Chair of Astronomy at Oxford.
Steve Rawlings is Head of Astrophysics at Oxford.
Ian Heywood is a Postdoctoral Reseacher in Oxford, and has developed simulation tools for new-generation radio telescopes including ALMA.
Sadegh Khochfar is a Faculty member in the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching.
Umberto Maio is a Postdoctoral Reseacher in the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Munich.
Marco Spaans is a Professor at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in
Groningen.