Unveiling planet-forming discs with the Square Kilometre Array

用平方公里阵列揭开行星形成盘的面纱

• 批准号: 2704460
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Leeds
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2704460
• 关键词: Unveiling; planet; forming; discs; Square

Planets are born in discs of dust and gas that surround young stars, but the specific mechanisms that form them remain elusive. The upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a next generation radio telescope many times more powerful than current instruments, will have the power to 'unveil' planet forming discs, observing emission from large dust grains and molecules in their coldest and most dense regions - precisely the locations at which planets are thought to form. In this project, the successful candidate will combine the latest observations of protoplanetary discs from the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) with radiative transfer simulations to understand how the SKA will advance our understanding of planet formation. The project has two main themes, each of which can be explored depending on the interests of the candidate: 1) Growing pebbles into planets: Assembling a young planet involves the growth of micron-sized dust to centimetre sized 'pebbles', and the SKA will be uniquely sensitive to emission from these pebbles in protoplanetary discs. Combining hydrodynamic models of protoplanetary discs and growing planets, you will simulate the growth and evolution of dust grains. You will characterise how planets sculpt the distribution of pebbles, and predict how the SKA will observe discs at different evolutionary stages. 2) Pathways of prebiotic molecules to planets: Molecules important for key biological processes here on Earth ('prebiotic') are detected throughout interstellar space, but their abundance and distribution in the vicinity of forming planets remains poorly understood. You will add the required physical and chemical processes to astrochemical disc models to reproduce the latest observations of large molecules in discs. Armed with these models, you will predict the optimal targets, molecules and transitions to observe with SKA to uncover the prebiotic content of protoplanetary discs.

行星是在年轻恒星周围的尘埃和气体盘中诞生的，但形成它们的具体机制仍然难以捉摸。即将到来的平方公里阵列(SKA)是下一代射电望远镜，比目前的仪器强大许多倍，它将有能力揭开行星形成盘的面纱，观测到最冷和最密集地区的大尘埃颗粒和分子发出的辐射--这正是行星形成的位置。在这个项目中，成功的候选者将把阿塔卡马大毫米/亚毫米阵列(ALMA)对原行星盘的最新观测与辐射传输模拟结合起来，以了解SKA将如何促进我们对行星形成的理解。该项目有两个主题，每个主题都可以根据候选人的兴趣进行探索：1)将鹅卵石培育成行星：组装一颗年轻的行星涉及到将微米大小的尘埃生长到厘米大小的“鹅卵石”，而SKA将对来自原始行星盘中这些鹅卵石的排放特别敏感。结合原行星盘和正在生长的行星的流体动力学模型，你将模拟尘埃颗粒的生长和演化。你将描述行星如何塑造鹅卵石的分布，并预测SKA将如何在不同的演化阶段观察圆盘。2)益生菌分子到行星的路径：对地球上关键生物过程至关重要的分子(‘益生菌’)在整个星际空间都被检测到，但它们在正在形成的行星附近的丰度和分布仍然知之甚少。您将在天体化学圆盘模型中添加所需的物理和化学过程，以重现对圆盘中大分子的最新观测。有了这些模型，您将预测使用SKA观察的最佳目标、分子和跃迁，以揭示原行星盘的益生菌含量。