Project A
Recovering the orbit of interacting binaries
Sreejita Das (ESO), Miguel Vioque (ESO), Nicolás Kurtovic (MPE)
During the star-formation process, stars host circumstellar disks composed of dust and gas, from which planets can form. In our galaxy, most stars are found in multiple stellar systems (two or more stars orbiting each other), where the dynamical interaction between stellar companions and their young circumstellar disks can have an irreversible impact on the planet formation potential of these objects. The effect of these interactions in planet formation is almost completely determined by the star's orbits around each other, which are mostly unknown in young binary systems. In this project, we will use observations from the ALMA Observatory to recover the orbit of young binary stars, and we will do so by following the movement of the circumstellar disks over time. During theinternship, the student will get an insight into the field of planet formation, learn how to image and analyse high angular resolution ALMA data, and also learn how to model binary orbits. Requirements: Experience with coding in Python and using scientific libraries such as numpy and matplotlib.