HST/ACS image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC1300, nicely illustrating bar-driven gaseous inflow and star formation.
Below are descriptions of DPhil (PhD) projects I currently have on offer. All deal with galaxy formation and evolution, primarily through detailed studies of nearby objects, and they include both observational and theoretical aspects. Understanding how galaxies form and evolve is central to modern astrophysics, and those projects each contribute in their own way to this larger enterprise.
The projects are meant to cover a period of 3-4 years full-time, the standard length for an Oxford DPhil. This is short, so a full commitment is necessary to carry the projects forward and simultaneously acquire all the skills that a finishing DPhil student is expected to possess. If you are interested by one of the projects and would like to discuss it further, please contact me as soon as possible.
There is actually considerable freedom in tailoring the projects to one's own interests, and I would expect that as time passes, every student will gradually develop his/her own research directions.
Note also that even though many projects may be on offer, I do not intend to supervise more than 2-3 students at any one time.
Surveys of Molecular Gas in Southern Early-Type Galaxies
Surveys of Molecular Gas in Southern Early-Type
Galaxies
(with Bureau)
Understanding the outlines of galaxy formation and evolution remains central to much of astronomy today. With the 1 billion US dollar ALMA (Atacama Large Millimetre Array) telescope soon coming online in Chile, the need for large targeted surveys of molecular gas in Southern galaxies is pressing. This project has two parallel aims. First, to carry out surveys of elliptical and lenticular galaxies in the South with existing telescopes such as APEX (European Southern Observatory) and ASTE (Japan), to provide targets for ALMA studies. Second, to exploit those surveys to unravel the effects of supermassive black hole and star formation feedback on molecular gas, the fuel reservoir for star formation. Both projects are aimed at understanding so-called "downsizing", the puzzling fact that, in the dominant hierarchical structure formation scenarios whereby larger objects form last, star formation actually shuts down more rapidly and earlier in the more massive galaxies. This is likely due to these galaxies being more active, thus disturbing and possibly destroying their molecular gas reservoir. The project will involve obtaining and analysing varied observations, and will likely include close collaboration with a group at the University of Nagoya in Japan, a partner in an Astrophysics Centre of Excellence
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This page was last modified on 17 November 2008