High-resolution Cosmological Simulations of Disc Galaxies

Department of Space and Climate Physics, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, UK

Supervisor: Dr. Daisuke Kawata ([Email Address Removed])

ESA's next cornerstone mission, Gaia, will uncover revolutionary detailed views of the Milky Way. In addition, large-scale surveys, like Euclid, will provide us with snapshots of the formation history of the disc galaxies, like the Milky Way. Computer simulations of galaxy formation are a powerful tool to connect these snapshots information, and help us to understand the physical process of galaxy formation and evolution. The objective of this project is to improve and optimise the MSSL's original particle-based galactic chemodynamics code, GCD+, on the state-of-the art supercomputers in the UK and Europe, and run unprecedentedly high-resolution numerical simulations of the disc galaxy formation to compare with the future observations and study the galaxy formation. We seek a student who likes computer programming and possesses the enthusiasm to tackle this challenging, but exciting project.

UCL was one of the first universities in the world to become involved in making scientific observations in space. Since MSSL was established in 1966, we have participated in more than 35 satellite missions and over 200 rocket experiments. Our groups of research scientists and development engineers work together to ensure that the instruments we produce are as relevant and competitive as possible. The subsequent scientific interpretation of data benefits from the fundamental understanding of the instruments gained from in depth knowledge of their development and testing.

Further details on our PhD programme and other available projects can be found at:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/research-degrees and http://www.ucl.ac.uk/astro/phd.

Deadline: Applications accepted all year round, but interviews begin in mid February.
Funding: Competition funding: This research project is one of a number of projects at this institution. It is in competition for funding with one or more of these projects. Usually the project that receives the best applicant will be awarded the funding. The funding is available to citizens of a number of European countries (including the UK). In most cases this will include all EU nationals. However full funding may not be available to all applicants and you should read the full department and project details for further information.