The Project
The formation of stars and planets: Radiation hydrodynamical and magnetohydrodynamical simulations.
Winner
Matthew Bate
University of Exeter
School of Physics
Exeter, England
newton.ex.ac.uk
New Zealander Matthew Bate, 36 years old, graduated from Massey University, New Zealand, in 1991 with a B.Sc in Physics and Computer Science. He obtained a B.Sc (Hons) in Physics from Massey in 1992, and his Ph.D from Cambridge University, England, in 1996. He has been Reader in Astrophysics at the School of Physics, University of Exeter, England, since 2004.
Award
€1,180,539
Project Description
This project aims to dramatically improve our understanding of how stars and planets form and, hence, motivate future observational studies by utilizing new radiation hydrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics(*) numerical codes that have recently been, or are currently being, developed at the University of Exeter. Specifically, it aims to apply the codes to four outstanding problems in star and planet formation in order to determine:
- Whether the formation of close binary stellar systems is possible during the phase of the collapse of a molecular cloud core that occurs as molecular hydrogen dissociates and, if so, how their observed properties are expected to differ from close binaries formed by the orbital decay of wide systems.
- Whether direct gravitational instability of a massive gaseous circumstellar disc is a viable mechanism for the formation of giant planets and, if so, how observations may discriminate between different formation mechanisms.
- How the inclusion of radiation and magnetic fields alters the statistical properties of stars derived from star formation calculations and whether the additional physics improves the agreement with observations.
- The structure of protoplanets formed via core-accretion as they undergo gas accretion from a protoplanetary disc and whether three-dimensional radioactive transfer and magnetic effects result in better agreement with observations.
(*) Definition - magnetohydrodynamics:
Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) (magnetofluiddynamics or hydromagnetics), is the academic discipline which studies the dynamics of electrically conducting fluids. Examples of such fluids include plasmas, liquid metals, and salt water. The word magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is derived from magneto- meaning magnetic field, and hydro- meaning fluid, and -dynamics meaning movement. The field of MHD was initiated by Hannes Alfvén, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1970. (Source: Wikipedia)
