TAKIGAWA Aki

Associate Professor

Department of Earth and Planetary Environmental Science (UG), Department of Earth and Planetary Physics (UG), Department of Earth and Planetary Science (GR), Graduate School of Science

Current Research

Dust grains condensed around evolved stars are
injected into the
interstellar medium.
Some of them survived processing in the the
interstellar medium and
protoplanetary disks and become a building block
of the new stars
and planetary systems.
The solar system formed via dust and gas disk
around the young sun
as well 4.6 Gyr ago and will provide materials
into space at the last
stage of the stellar evolution. Such a cycle of
materials between
circumstellar environments and interstellar medium
is referred to as
"galactic material circulation".

Presolar grains identified in primitive meteorites
are survivors of
circumstellar dust around evolved stars. They may
record their formation around evolved stars and alteration in the interstellar
medium and protoplanetary disk. Are the formation and alteration
conditions of presolar grains unique in the
galaxy? My research includes (1) mineralogical and cosmochemical
analysis of presolar grains in primitive meteorites, (2) experiments of
dust formation and alteration of dust analogues, and (3) observation of dust formation in protoplanetary disks and around evolved stars.

Keywords

experiment, meteorite, presolar grain, mineral, astronomical observation