Overview The Stars & Planets Group welcomes applicants interested in pursuing cutting-edge computational or observational research in fields related to star & planet formation, stellar evolution, and stellar dynamics. All of our PhD students are well-supported in terms of both finances and equipment. Each student receives their own workstation, unlimited access to the local Supercomputer Facility, and a financial supplement to their scholarship. Students are encouraged to attend international conferences and to work with overseas collaborators. Prospective students should contact either Dr Sarah Maddison or Dr Jarrod Hurley for details. In 2008 we anticipate having a maximum of 3 PhD places available, the application deadline for which is is October 31 2007. Scholarship (Australian Postgraduate Awards, Swinburne University Postgraduate Research Awards, and Chancellors Research Scholarships for Australians, and International Postgraduate Research Scholarships and Swinburne University Postgraduate Research Awards for overseas applicants) applications for 2008 entry can be found here: http://www.swin.edu.au/research/schols.htm Possible PhD Research Topics (but are not limited to!): From Dust to Planets With over two hundred extrasolar planets discovered in the past ten years, it is becoming increasingly important to study the planet formation process. There is an ongoing project at Swinburne to study the earliest stages of the process in which micron size dust particles aggregate together to form metre size boulders that form the base material for planets. The PhD student will work on both theoretical and observational aspects of this problem. Theory-side, the researcher will use and modify our 3D, two-phase (dust+gas) hydrodynamics code, running simulations on the Swinburne supercomputer. Infrared and radio observations will complement the numerical results. Sarah is currently collaborating with groups in France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the USA on this project and the new researcher will become involved with these collaborations. Supervisor: Dr Sarah Maddison Protosteller Disk Dynamics The Stars & Planets group are involved in a variety of projects studying the dynamics of disks around young stars - including protostellar, circumbinary and protoplanetary disks. The PhD student will work on both theoretical and observational aspects of the problem. The student will use and modify our hydrodynamics code and run simulations on the Swinburne supercomputer. Infrared and radio observations will complement the numerical results. Sarah is currently collaborating with groups in France and Germany on this project and the new student will become involved with these collaborations. Supervisor: Dr Sarah Maddison The Evolution of Star Clusters Here at Swinburne we have a N-body code written by Jarrod and his collaborators in Cambridge that models all facets of star cluster evolution. We also have teraflops computing power at our disposal via the Swinburne supercomputer and access to GRAPE-6 machines. This software and hardware combination means that we can produce direct and realistic models of star clusters. As this is only a very recent capability there are a variety of associated projects. These include: destruction of open clusters in our Galaxy; the formation of exotic stars via dynamical interactions in star clusters; the morphology of planetary systems in star clusters; stellar nucleosynthesis feedback in star clusters; the effect of dynamical evolution on the appearance of globular clusters. Plus numerous other possibilities - please get in touch if you have an idea not listed here. Supervisor: Dr Jarrod Hurley. Galactic Novae Populations Across the Ages Cataclysmic variables (CVs) are binary stars in which the cannibalistic accretion of hydrogen-rich material from a red dwarf companion onto a white dwarf (WD) leads to periodic eruptions on the WD surface known as novae. These outbursts are incredibly energetic and make novae visible in galaxies outside of our own. Currently there is a significant and, so far, unsettled debate in the literature concerning the correlation between nova rate and Hubble type of galaxy. Traditionally it was thought that brighter, faster novae, powered by massive WDs, should more frequently appear in spiral galaxies (with young populations). Conversely, elliptical galaxies (with little or no recent star formation) are not expected to exhibit many luminous novae because the CV population will be dominated by low-mass WDs with low surface gravities. However, recent observations of many bright novae in the old elliptical galaxy M87 contradicts this point of view. The goal of this project is to provide a more realistic set of nova population models than has hitherto been produced and to do this for a range of galaxy types. Jarrod collaborates with Dina Prialnik and Attay Kovetz at Tel Aviv University who produce world-leading models of accreting WDs. Importantly, these detailed models of nova outbursts over an extended range of parameter space (mass and temperature of the WD, rate of accretion) have shown the existence of a previously overlooked class of moderately slow but bright systems eminating from cool, low-mass WDs with low accretion rates. The PhD student would be responsible for interfacing these latest novae calculations with a binary evolution code written by Jarrod. The student would then use this code to create artificial CV/novae populations for all galaxy types, `observe' these populations and make a detailed comparison with the M87 (and future) observations. Supervisor: Dr Jarrod Hurley.