| aikawa at astron.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp | |
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Research Field
Theoretical Astrophysics
Research Subject
Star formation, Protoplanetary disks, Astrochemistry
Current Research
I study molecular evolution in molecular clouds and protoplanetary disks. Stars are formed by a gravitational collapse of molecular clouds cores. As the cores have angular momentum, a new-born star is surrounded by circumstellar disk. The disks are birth sites of planetary systems, and thus are called "protoplanetary disks". Molecular clouds and protoplanetary disks consist of molecular gas and small dust grains. Chemical composition of these gas and dust, i.e. raw material of planetary systems, is important for planetary system formation. Astronomers observe radiation from the disks to study how the stars and planetary systems are formed. The choice of molecular lines is important, since the molecular abundances vary with time, density, and temperature. In planetary sciences, chemical composition of primordial matter, such as comets and meteorites are intensively observed and analyzed to investigate the origin of our solar system. Theoretical modeling and observation of disk chemistry will link these information on the solar system to more general astronomical phenomena. I mainly work on the numerical simulations of molecular evolution, which are compared with observations.