Planetary chemical composition and its origins in protoplanetary disks

The  UCL Astrophysics group is inviting applications to PhD positions for the 2023 round.

Planetary chemical composition and its origins in protoplanetary disks

In the 2020s, exoplanet studies are increasingly focussing on planetary chemical composition and its origins in protoplanetary disks. Some of the key goals are to link planetary elemental abundances to their formation location and migration history in a disk, and to establish the origins of habitable chemical compositions. Questions also abound concerning the potential chemical diversity of Earth-like worlds, or the origins and nature of various types of planets such as hot Jupiters or super-Earths. To tackle the above problems, we must study the composition, structure, and processes in planet-forming environments.

We invite PhD applications to work on planet formation science using revolutionary instruments such as the ALMA interferometer or JWST; on the physical-chemical modelling of planet formation processes and environments; and on the connections between planetary systems, their natal disks, and their host stars. You are welcome to contact me to discuss any details.

In my group, we mainly focus on studying protoplanetary disks, using our own observations and models (e.g. Kama et al. 2016; Keyte et al. 2022), but also contributing in large, international ALMA programmes which will provide a wealth of data on protoplanetary disk composition over the next few years. We are also working on projects relating host stars to their disks and planets (see e.g. Jermyn & Kama 2018; Kama et al. 2022), notably EXOHOST, and are heavily involved in the upcoming Ariel mission, which is led from UCL and will characterise the composition of ~1000 planets.

The project will have two components: one on physical-chemical planet formation models, and another on observations of protoplanetary disks, in particular from ALMA or JWST. The balance of these components will be determined in discussion with the applicant. Your aim will be to study chemical tracers of planet formation history, which are increasingly relevant with new exoplanet atmosphere characterisation capabilities from JWST and the upcoming UCL-led Ariel mission. Some background in coding (Python) will be advantageous.

For the details of the application process see the Astrophysics group admission pages  https://www.ucl.ac.uk/astrophysics/postgraduate-study/how-apply. The application deadlines are: 27th of November 2022 for the non-UK and 23rd of January of 2023 for the UK applicants. Informal enquiries may be made to Dr Mihkel Kama ([Email Address Removed]).