Students projects

Students projects

Currently available projects

Comparing turbulent structures in models and observations: Compare the statistical properties of large scale mapping observations of the ISM in different tracers with hydrodynamic and magneto-hydrodynamic turbulence simulations.
Application of algorithms identifying coherent structures in maps of complex, turbulent, and filamentary molecular clouds. As a significant observational component, supplementing new mapping observations are to be obtained using the NANTEN2 telescopes in the Atacama desert in Chile.
Gas cooling lines observed by Herschel and SOFIA: Study the energy balance in molecular clouds irradiated by UV radiation and the possible triggering of a dynamic collapse of those clouds due to the irradiation.
Analyze existing data of the main gas cooling lines taken by the Herschel Space Observatory and propose complementary observations to be taken by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).

Infrared pumping of molecular lines in PDRs: Study of the effect of the internal infrared pumping of various molecules through radiation of heated dust in the framework of the KOSMA-tau PDR model combined with the one-dimensional radiative transfer code SimLine.
Investigate the sensitivity of the pumping to the the strength of the external radiation field and the dust distributions for different molecules.
Impact of the UV spectral shape on the structure of photon-dominated regions: Numerical and theoretical studies how different spectral types of illuminating UV fields change photon-dominated regions (PDRs)
Compute impact of different photo-ionization and dissociation reactions
Compute the change of the spectral shape by dust extinction throughout a PDR
The history and the fate of the gas in the star-forming region W49A: Analysis of JCMT observations of molecules such as HCN, HNC, H2CO, ... to find out whether star-formation in all parts of the W49 region started at the same time or whether the central main cluster is more evolved and the smaller stellar clusters were affected by previous star-formation activity in the main cluster

MAGIX-Anpassungen von Beobachtungsdaten mit vorberechneten Ergebnissen des Kölner PDR-Modells: Erstellung und Test einer numerischen Schnittstelle zwischen dem PDR-Modell und dem allgemeinen Fit-Program MAGIX für die Anpassung von Linienintensitäten mit dem PDR-Modell
Der Einfluss der Staubzusammensetzung auf das Verhältnis von Ferninfrarot Linien- und Kontinuumstrahlung: Numerische Modellierung der Chemie photonon-dominierter Regionen bei Variation der Annahmen über die Staubzusammensetzung
Chemische Signaturen Röntgen-dominierter Regionen im Vergleich zu erhöhter kosmischer Strahlung: Numerische Modellierung von photonon-dominierten Regionen mit variabler kosmischer Strahlung

Silke Andree: Three-dimensional modelling of the emission from clumpy PDRs
Zoltan Makai: The physics and chemistry of the photon-dominated clouds in NGC3603

2012: Florian Lotter: Gütefunktionen für die Modellanpassung astronomischer Beobachtungen

2013: Marc Mertens: Sensitivity of Tracers in Photodissociation Regions to the Density Structure

I am a member of the students admission comittee for the Master of Science in Physics at the university and provide the contact for 28 bachelor students within the mentoring program of the physics department.

Created: Dr. V. Ossenkopf
Last change: 5/06/2013