Molecules and dust formation in supernovae and supernova remnants

Supernovae are the explosive death of high-mass stars. At this explosive event, stars eject heavy elements, such as iron, oxygen, silicon. While enormous explosion energy ionised the ejected gas from the stars, gas containing these elements expands after explosion, and slowly cools down over years, and these elements eventually form molecules and sublimate into dust grains. Supernovae and supernova remnants are considered to be one of the important sources of dust grains in the interstellar medium of galaxies.

Although recent intensive studies established that supernovae do form molecules and dust, actual processes to form them are largely unknown. Particularly, it is challenging to form molecules and dust in very fast expanding gas (about 1000 km per second).

This PhD project aims at investigating dynamics of expanding gas, and chemical processes and abundances of atoms, molecules, and dust. The student is expected to analyse the data obtained by ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array), Herschel Space Observatory, SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy), VLT (Very Large Telescope), APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment). It will lead to future studies, using the JWST (James Web Space Telescope), once it will be launched (planned in 2021).


Consideration is automatic upon application for admission to the Doctor of Philosophy in Physics and Astronomy with an October 2019 start date.

In the ’Research proposal and Funding’ section of your application, please specify the project title and supervisors of this project and copy the project description in the text box provided (you are able to state multiple advertised projects that you would like to be considered for)

Please select ’No, I am not self-funding my research’ when asked whether you are self-funding your research.

Please add ’STFC funded studentship’ when asked ’Please provide the name of the funding you are applying for’.