A

Recovering the orbit of interacting binaries

Sreejita Das, Elena Viscardi, Miguel Vioque, Nicolás Kurtovic

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.

B

Dense, star-forming gas — the missing piece in understanding the lifecycle of molecular clouds

Lukas Neumann, Ashley Barnes 

Giant molecular clouds are the birthplaces of stars. In the densest parts of molecular clouds stars form as a consequence of gravitational collapse, forming stellar clusters, which, in turn, feed back energy into the surrounding medium hence dispersing the cloud. However, there is very little known about the densest, immediate star-forming parts of giant molecular clouds since observing this dense gas phase at scales of individual clouds in external galaxies is challenging and expensive. In this project, we will attempt the first steps towards understanding how efficiently dense gas forms from bulk molecular gas, how fast dense gas is subsequently converted into stars and how effective stellar feedback is in dispersing dense gas. This novel approach will put the first constraints on these dense gas efficiencies and timescales — the missing piece in understanding the cloud lifecycle.

C

Giants under the telescope: characterizing the atmospheres of gas giant exoplanets through direct spectroscopy

Jens Kammerer, Thomas Winterhalder, Claudia Toci, Lara Piscarreta

What can we learn about a giant planet atmosphere from direct imaging spectroscopy? And what will remain hidden under their thick gas envelopes? These are the main questions that this project aims to address. While the number of known exoplanets approaches the bar of 6'000, the origin of massive gas giants (so-called super-Jupiters) on widely separated orbits remains an open question. Direct observations of young exoplanets provide critical tests for theoretical models of planet formation and early evolution. In particular, the atmospheric composition of young gas giants carries chemical imprints of the planet formation history.

D

Exploring the Growth of Dense Stellar Systems Across Cosmic History

Martyna Chruslinska, Mirko Curti

Our Sun lives in the sparse galactic field, and it is extremely unlikely that it will ever be affected by a close flyby of another similarly massive object. On the contrary, such interactions are common in dense environments such as globular clusters or nuclear clusters. The latter are the densest stellar systems in the Universe, found at the centres of galaxies of all shapes and sizes. However, when and how these clusters accumulated their mass is still an open question. In recent years, dense environments have received particular attention in the field of gravitational wave astrophysics. Dynamical interactions in such environments can lead to the efficient formation of stellar black hole mergers, possibly allowing hierarchical merging of black holes and even their growth into intermediate-mass black holes. How common are such processes in the Universe, and how likely are we to detect gravitational wave sources that have formed in this way?

E

Timescales of Transformation: Environmental Impacts on Galaxy Evolution

Ilaria Marini, Amelia Fraser-McKelvie, Natanael de Isídio

Today, we know that galaxies are not isolated objects but dynamic, self-regulating systems whose lives are governed by the gas content in the interstellar medium and their surrounding environment. Galaxies undergo complex life cycles—they are born, evolve, and may eventually "die" as star formation ceases. The environment in which a galaxy resides plays a crucial role in its formation and evolution, while internal processes also significantly influence galactic properties. A central question in astrophysics is determining the relative impact of these internal and external factors on galactic evolution. In this project, the student will analyze observational data from the MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory) survey, enriched with environmental context, alongside data from high-resolution cosmological simulations, aiming to provide an answer to this fundamental question.

F

Study on the rotation of water around a proto-black hole

Luigi Zallio, Miguel Vioque, Luke Maud, Nicolás Kurtovic 

Our knowledge of star formation is undergoing rapid development, in part thanks to the transformational capabilities of the Atacama Large Millimeter/Sub-Millimeter Array (ALMA observatory). ALMA observes the cold dust and gas of the Universe, and it can trace the components of the disks of material around forming stars. G17 is one of the few known massive protostars (30 to 50 solar masses) with a bona-fide disk around. G17 disk molecules are rather exotic (like water and salt), compared to the commonly found CO in low-mass protostars, and they likely come from the extreme densities, temperatures, and energies produced by this massive source.

G

Following the Trail of Streamers feeding Baby Stars

Teresa Valdivia-Mena, Anna Miotello

During the protostellar stage, baby stars accumulate mass by accreting from their surrounding disks. At the same time, planets may be already forming around the protostar, consuming material from the disk. We have long thought that stars and planets get their mass exclusively from their natal cores, but recent observations of asymmetric channels of gas called “streamers” have challenged the classical paradigm. Streamers can connect the protostellar disks with larger mass reservoirs outside the original cores, and thus replenish the material consumed by the protostar. This infall of material can potentially change the chemical properties of the disk where the streamer lands right at the time when planets are forming and possibly influence their final outcome. The aim of this project is to disentangle the different kinematic structures around a baby star, to understand the connection between a protostellar disk and its environment.