PhD projects at the Institute of Origins. A list of possible PhD projects at the Institute of Origins appear in the following pages. If you have any questions regarding any projects please contact the individual supervisors. Also if you have other suggestions for a project please contact us as well. The chemical composition of star forming regions near and far .................................... 3 ! Modelling the solubilities of organic solids in hydrocarbon liquids: application to the geology and astrobiology of Titan. .................................................................................... 4! Modeling turbulent flows in solar quiescent prominences ...............................................5! The zoo of exo-planets..................................................................................................8! Understanding the formation of heavy negative ions at Titan and Enceladus................9! Mapping anthropogenic versus natural sources of atmospheric CO2 ............................11! Probing Large Scale Structure with High Energy Neutrinos.........................................13! Future Moon Missions and High Energy Neutrinos ......................................................15! Measuring Cosmic Particles and the Upper Atmosphere with LOFAR.........................17! Mimicking planetary environments for assessing the survivability of bacterial organisms within an artificial environmental chamber. A combined planetary atmosphere and microbiological study for exploring panspermia................................. 18! Study of a Large Modular Water Cerenkov Detector : PhD proposal for Origins ........20! Einstein's equations, the birth of black holes and gravitational waves..........................22! Do fundamental constants vary in time? .........................................................................23! Dust and star formation in low-metallicity dwarf galaxies.............................................24! Guiding the implementation of new ground and space observatories for......................25! exoplanet direct detection..........................................................................................25! Chemodynamical modeling of galactic discs...................................................................26! Comparative solar wind effects on planetary atmospheres.............................................27! Mercury: its composition, internal structure and magnetic field ...................................28! The Structure of Planetary Exospheres...........................................................................29! What holds an asteroid together?.....................................................................................30! (continued) The dark sector of the universe – dark energy, dark matter and dark spinors ..............31! Testing General Relativity using Cosmology...................................................................32! Modelling fermions by means of Cosserat elasticity .......................................................33! The chemical composition of star forming regions near and far primary supervisor: S. Viti (P&A) www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~sv second supervisor: I. Ferreras (MSSL) www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~ferreras This project deals with the investigation of the chemical composition of massive star forming regions in low and high redshift galaxies. Massive stars are essential in defining the structure and evolution of their host galaxies: the injection of large amounts of energy and mass into the Interstellar Medium plays an important role in the distribution of warm gas and hence in galaxy evolution. The student will couple two existing computer models - a chemical enrichment and galaxy formation model with a star formation chemical model - with the aim of 'constructing' the star formation history of a wide range of galaxies, from starburst to dwarfs, from low to high redshift. This is an extremely topical subject as the cloud-scale observations of molecular clouds and star-forming sites in external galaxies is one of the major goals of ALMA." Figure 1: Messier 82 is a nearby starbursting galaxy. This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the blue disk (where the stars, dust and most of the gas live) and in red the shredded clouds of gas ejected from the Interstellar Medium by the intense rate o of star formation. (Image courtesy Hubblesite.org). Modelling the solubilities of organic solids in hydrocarbon liquids: application to the geology and astrobiology of Titan. Principal supervisor: A. Dominic Fortes (UCL Earth Sciences) http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucfbanf/ Secondary supervisor: Ian A. Crawford (Birkbeck College Earth Sciences) http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~iac/ Saturn’s giant icy moon Titan is known to have extensive bodies of liquid methane + ethane on its surface; these form part of a ‘hydrological’ cycle involving liquid hydrocarbon rainfall, surface run-off in drainage channels, and likely subsurface accumulation in aquifers. Methane is also chemically processed in the stratosphere to form solid hydrocarbons and C-N compounds; these snow out and accumulate as surface sediments. As these compounds are known to be very soluble in liquid methane/ethane mixtures, we would expect to observe similar behaviour to that seen in terrestrial aqueous systems, such as chemical erosion, sediment cementation, and the formation of evaporites. Kraken Mare; at several hundred Dissolved solutes are also important for kilometres across, it is one of understanding the possible biological Titan's largest methane seas, potential of Titan, since it has been situated close to the north pole. proposed that solid acetylene (which is very Rivers and deltaic structures are soluble in liquid hydrocarbons) may be an evident around parts of the energy source for putative alien organisms. shoreline. Cassini Radar image. The objective of this study is to build a chemical thermodynamic model of liquids at Titan’s surface. The model will be used to understand the likely behaviour of meteoric, fluvial, lacustrine, and marine 'waters' on Titan, their interaction with 'bedrock' and with sediments, investigating the conditions necessary for generation of karst terrain, evaporites, and sedimentary lithification. The model will also be used to investigate the astrobiological potential of different environments on Titan in terms of 'nutrient' availability. On a broader scale, the student will also investigate the overall carbon cycle on Titan, using the model to understand how atmospheric evolution could affect the chemistry of Titan’s seas. The project will provide a basis for incorporating both Cassini-Huygens observations, and play an important role in guiding mission planning for a future return to Titan, perhaps within the framework of the TSSM / TandEM mission proposal. Modeling turbulent flows in solar quiescent prominences Principle supervisor: Prof. Frank Smith (UCL Maths) http://www.ucl.ac.uk/math/staff/FTS.html Secondary supervisor: Prof. Louise Harra (UCL Space and Climate Physics) http://www.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/~lkh Prominences are large, cool plasma structures seen above the solar limb. They exist in the midst of the surrounding hot corona. There are many mysteries behind these structures - in particular how does the cool plasma stay suspended against gravitational freefall. The japanese space mission, Hinode, was launched in 2006, and observes these structures in incredible detail (see figure). These beautiful structures show dark episodic upflows that exhibit turbulent flow as well as large-scale transverse oscillations. The purpose of this PhD project is to demonstrate the mechanisms of this flow using an understanding (to be developed) of the main turbulent structures involved. Such structures have been much studied and quantified at UCL for magnetic-free fluid dynamics in channels and pipes where solutions known as puffs and slugs are dominant and in external layers where spots and spikes dominate. The project is to use parameter extension techniques to include the required magnetic and thermal effects in full. Nonlinear behaviour and inviscid fluid physics are expected to play major roles. Physical modelling to bring out the main phenomena is to be combined with analysis and computation on reduced systems of differential equations as required. Ideally there would probably be equal weighting to the physical and mathematical aspects of the project. Figure 2: Prominence on the limb as observed by the Hinode spacecraft in the Ca II line. Target Properties and Site Selection in Support of the MoonLITE Penetrator Mission First supervisor: Dr I.A. Crawford (UCL/Birkbeck Research School of Earth Sciences Co-supervisors: Prof Jan-Peter Muller (MSSL), Dr Adrian Jones (UCL/Birkbeck School of Earth Sciences) The proposed UK-led MoonLITE mission will advance our understanding of the origin and evolution of the Earth-Moon system by conducting a number of geophysical and geochemical measurements at the lunar surface (see http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~iac/AG_MoonLITE_article.pdf for background). Some of these investigations (e.g. the attempt to detect and characterise organics within the regolith or lunar polar volatiles) have an astrobiological dimension. In order to achieve these objectives it is clearly essential that the penetrators survive their impact with the lunar surface, and preparatory work on defining impact site selection criteria and assessments of whether these can be achieved using existing and planned remote sensing