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.

行星诞生于围绕年轻恒星的灰尘和气体盘中，但是构成它们的特定机制仍然难以捉摸。即将到来的平方公里阵列（SKA）是下一代射电望远镜，比目前的仪器强得多，它将有能力“揭开”行星形成圆盘的行星，观察到最冷且最密集的区域中的大型尘土谷物和分子的发射 - 正是哪个行星在哪个行星中形成了形成的位置。在该项目中，成功的候选人将结合Atacama大毫米/亚毫米阵列（ALMA）的原始碟片的最新观察结果与辐射转移模拟，以了解SKA将如何提高我们对行星形成的理解。该项目有两个主要主题，每个主题都可以根据候选者的兴趣来探索：1）将鹅卵石生长到行星中：组装年轻的星球涉及将微米大小的灰尘增长到百分之厘米的“卵石”，而SKA将对这些卵石中的卵石中的排放敏感，这些卵石将在这些卵石中敏感。结合了原球盘的流体动力模型和生长的行星，您将模拟粉尘晶粒的生长和演变。您将表征行星如何雕刻卵石的分布，并预测SKA将如何在不同的进化阶段观察光盘​​。 2）益生元分子到行星的途径：在整个星际空间中检测到地球上关键生物学过程（“益生元”）重要的分子，但它们在形成行星附近的丰度和分布仍然很熟悉。您将在天体化学盘模型中添加所需的物理和化学过程，以重现椎间盘中大分子的最新观察结果。通过这些模型，您将预测最佳靶标，分子和过渡，以使用SKA观察以发现原球盘的益生元含量。