- Promoter: Prof. Sven Van Loo
- Supervisor: Prof. Sven Van Loo
- Study programs: Master of Science in Physics and Astronomy, Master of Science in Teaching in Science and Technology (Physics and Astronomy), European Master of Science in Nuclear Fusion and Engineering Physics
- Location: Technicum, at home
Problem setting
Shocks in the interstellar medium occur as a result of a variety of phenomena, e.g. protostellar outflows, supernovae and cloud-cloud collisions. In dense, molecular clouds the ionisation fraction of the plasma is low and the magnetic fields threading the clouds can be significant. This results in the shocks from the bipolar outflows of young stellar objects being C-type, meaning there is a smoothing effect on the discontinuities in the fluid parameters through the shock. These shocks are important for the generation of molecules such as SiO which are otherwise heavily depleted into dust grains in these regions. The destruction of dust grains in shocks can occur due to gas-grain sputtering and grain-grain collisions, in which the grains undergo shattering and vaporisation. Usually the bow shock structures are reproduced from a superposition of one-dimensional shocks and not as a coherent, self-consistent structure. As a result a large uncertainty on the emission from the gaseous SiO can be expected.
Objectives
Using a 3D multifluid magnetohydrodynamics code you will determine the bowshock structure for different flow parameters like density, orientation of the magnetic field and shock speed. These results will be compared to the analytic shock structures used in previous studies and are relevant for observations of star formation. You will gain experience in magnetohydrodynamics, numerical simulation techniques and will have a better understanding of star formation.