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PhD Project Scholarships

1) Stellar & Galactic Astrophysics through Planetary Nebula Eyes.

The project is under the leadership of Quentin Parker and will be co-supervised by Ivan Bojicic.

Planetary nebulae are ejected and ionized by aging, Sun-like stars. Ninety-nine percent of stars more massive than the Sun will go through a planetary nebula phase. The nebular phase is short lived, making these nebulae relatively rare, but because of their prominence in the sky a few thousands are known. Planetary nebulae shapes observed with high resolution, multi-wavelength instruments on board space telescopes have proven a real challenge to explain, possibly indicating a more complex origin than previously suspected. This project uses PNe as beacons in the study of stellar evolution, stellar populations, binary interactions, stellar ejecta shaping mechanisms, as well as to understand galactic enrichment and evolution. Several projects both on the theoretical and observational aspects of these areas are possible and the exact choice will depend on interest and inclinations of the candidate.

For further information please contact Quentin Parker. More info can be found here.

2) Galactic Archaeology with HERMES (2 Positions)

The project is under the leadership of Dan Zucker.

Two PhD positions are available for research in Galactic Archaeology, in connection with the HERMES project. HERMES is a revolutionary new spectrograph under construction for the Anglo-Australian Telescope which will obtain detailed elemental abundances and precision radial velocities for over a million stars in the Milky Way, opening new frontiers in our understanding of the formation and evolution of the Galaxy. With these scholarships, you will have the opportunity to work with Dr. Daniel Zucker and three HERMES Super Science Fellows at Macquarie University, the other members of the HERMES Super Science team (Freeman, Bland-Hawthorn, Lattanzio, De Silva), as well as with collaborators at the Australian Astronomical Observatory, Australian National University, the University of Sydney, Monash University and other universities and institutes around the world.

For further information, please contact Dan Zucker. More info can be found here.

3) Searching for Planets with Single-Mode Spectrographs.

The project is under the leadership of Michael Ireland.

Spectrographs for planet hunting have typically been large and expensive devices, optimised for use with large telescopes. In this project, under the supervision of Dr Michael Ireland, you will develop a small inexpensive single-mode spectrograph for astronomy. This spectrograph will be used at the Macquarie University Observatory (being automated during 2011) to search for planets, in particular planets around pulsating "red clump" giant stars. You will also work with the Sydney astrophotonics community to incorporate photonic lantern technology into the spectrograph, which will enable a 10-fold improvement in sensitivity.

For further information and to discuss related projects, contact Michael Ireland. More info can be found here.

4) Imaging the Glow of Planetary Birth.

The project is under the leadership of Michael Ireland.

Aperture-masking interferometry has been used recently to image the faint glow of young planets next to the glare of their parent stars. In this project, you will work with Dr Michael Ireland and an international team using the worlds' largest telescopes (Keck, VLT, Gemini) to refine the aperture-masking interferometry technique, whic is currently the most sensitive technique for directly detecting faint companions at the diffraction limit of large telescopes. Using this data, you will search for planets in large data sets and interpret the results in the context of planet formation models. In particular, you will work with new sensitive data sets on stars more massive than the sun, where Jupiter-like planets are already known to be more common at small separations, but their frequency and formation mechanism is still very uncertain at solar-system or larger scales.

For further information and to discuss related projects, contact Michael Ireland. More info can be found here.

5) Aboriginal Astronomy.

We invite students that wish to pursue a PhD in Aboriginal Astronomy to apply for an MQRES Scholarship. Students will be centred within the Department of Indigenous Studies and have an official affiliation with AAAstro. Please contact Ray Norris or Duane Hamacher for enquiries. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are encouraged to apply for all positions.