2026 Project Description

Exploring morphological and kinematical signatures of accretion outburst-hosting disks in star formation

Supervisors

Indrani Das, Travis J. Thieme
Find out more about supervisors on ASIAA website

Task Description and Goals

Protostars form through the collapse of dense molecular cloud cores, accompanied by the formation of circumstellar disks around these young stars. Young protostellar disks, which have masses comparable to those of their nascent host stars and are continuously fed by the infalling material from their natal envelopes, are prone to developing irregular spiral and arc-like structures. Recent high angular resolution observations of vigorous accretion outbursts reveal large-scale spiral structures extending hundreds of astronomical units in dust continuum and scattered light.

In this project, we aim to generate synthetic molecular line emission observations by performing radiative transfer calculations on the global MHD disk simulation data. These synthetic observations will allow us to characterize the kinematic signatures (e.g., density and velocity distribution) of disk spirals and surrounding envelope material across simulation models with different prestellar cloud core properties (e.g., mass, etc.) and varying disk instabilities. By systematically comparing these models, this analysis can provide insights on the physical mechanisms responsible for the appearance of disk spirals and assess their viability as observable tracers of accretion outburst–hosting disks.

Through this project, students will gain knowledge of star and planet formation, protoplanetary disk physics, basic introduction to the observations as well as practical experience with radiative transfer modeling, generating synthetic observations, and Python-based scientific computing.

Required Background

Background knowledge in astrophysics is preferred, but not mandatory. Experience in Linux/Unix systems and programming using Python is desirable. Good English communication skills are required.