PhD Scholarship: Astrophysics of high-mass star-formation

A PhD scholarship opportunity is available for two students to study the astrophysics of high-mass star-formation under the supervision of  Professor James Jackson.

Although the formation of low-mass stars is broadly understood, the process for high-mass stars remains highly uncertain.

This project will use data from world-class radio, millimetre, and sub-millimetre telescopes such as the Green Bank Telescope, the Australia Telescope Compact Array, and the Atacama Large Millimetre Array to probe the structure, motions, and physical conditions in high-mass star-forming regions by probing emission from their molecular gas and dust.

In particular, this project targets the very earliest stages of high-mass star-formation when the gas and dust are still very cold in order to examine the initial conditions and to compare with the predictions from theory.

The student will have the opportunity to analyse data from the Radio Ammonia Mid-Plane Survey (RAMPS), the Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team 90 Gigahertz Survey (MALT90), and the new Complete ATCA Census of High-Mass Clumps (CACHMC).

Domestic and international students with experience with astronomy, especially radio astronomy, is desirable.