Open Positions

Giant planets may from from the direct self-gravitational fragmentation of the protoplanetary disk, i.e. the disk of gas and dust surrounding a newborn star.

Bound clumps, as potential predecessors of giant planets form when young, massive protoplanetary discs fragment under their own gravity. These objects are extended and have densities much lower than the gas giant planets in the solar system. The fates of clumps embedded in discs are still uncertain. In order to study them, the results of evolutionary calculations of isolated clumps could be used.

The idea of this project is to try to fit the radial density profiles from such simulations with polytropes of varying index, e.g. using python scripts. Polytropes are a special class of analytical density and pressure structures that describe the interior of a self-gravitating clump of gas. This should allow the compilation of a library that allows accessing clump properties for a large range of masses and ages.