PhD Studentship Opportunity in Dark matter at the EDGE of galaxy formation

In this project, the student will build on an exciting new suite of simulations led by the Surrey astrophysics group, “EDGE”, that model the formation and evolution of the smallest galaxies in the Universe at unprecedented fidelity.

The Standard Cosmological Model gives a remarkable match to data on large scales in the Universe. However, the model requires two mysterious ingredients: dark matter and dark energy that remain to be understood. In this project, the student will build on an exciting new suite of simulations led by the Surrey astrophysics group, “EDGE”. These model the formation and evolution of the smallest galaxies in the Universe at unprecedented fidelity. They have already been shown to give a remarkable match to the very smallest “ultra-faint” dwarfs (Agertz et al. 2020; Rey et al. 2019; Rey et al. 2020). The student will model galaxies in EDGE at larger mass scales, allowing them to connect the simulations to larger gas rich dwarfs in the nearby Universe, for the first time (c.f. Read et al. 2017). This will (i) make the first steps towards truly “ab-initio” simulations of galaxy formation; (ii) allow the student – by confronting these simulations with exciting new survey data – to obtain new and tight constraints on the mass of thermal relic dark matter particles; and (iii) compare the simulations with exciting new in-house data to explore formation-pathways for “ultra-diffuse” galaxies.

This is a three year project, commencing in October 2020.

Entry requirements:
BSc, undergraduate masters or postgraduate masters in a physics-related degree programme.

How to apply:
Applications should be submitted though the Physics PhD course page: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/postgraduate/physics-phd
Please clearly state the studentship title and supervisor on your application.