Ian Czekala

Accepting Postgraduate Research Students

PhD projects

Title: Using ALMA to Search for Planets as They Form: Non-Keplerian Flows in Protoplanetary Disks

Abstract:
This Ph.D. thesis will investigate the structures and kinematics of protoplanetary disks using high resolution, sub-mm interferometric observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). Through programs like MAPS, exoALMA, and others, ALMA has consistently demonstrated the ability to detect "non-Keplerian" motions of the molecular gas in protoplanetary disks hosted by pre-main sequence stars. Many threads of evidence suggest that these motions are directly caused by (proto)planets embedded in the disk, however, there are other disk processes that could altern the Keplerian flow of gas. It is the goal of this project to explore these possibilities using high resolution observations of protoplanetary disks, as well as any ancillary information. In order to analyse the rich, Fourier-type datasets from ALMA, this project will develop and employ statistical and machine learning techniques concerning Bayesian inference and Regularized Maximum Likelihood Imaging (RML).

References:
* Zawadzki, Czekala, et al. 2023: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023PASP..135f4503Z/abstract
* Izquierdo et al. 2023: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023A%26A...674A.113I/abstract
* MAPS large program: https://alma-maps.info/
* exoALMA large program: https://www.exoalma.com/