Zhaohuan Zhu, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, received a $444,188 grant from the NASA ATP (astrophysics theory program) for Predicting Observational Signatures of Planet Formation in Realistic Models of Protoplanetary Disks .
Recent high angular resolution observations (e.g. ALMA, VLT) of protoplanetary disks have begun to reveal complicated structure (e.g. spiral arms, gaps, rings etc.). In principle such observations can provide constraints on disk dynamics, and for the first time reveal the physical processes which control the planet formation process. However, this requires realistic theoretical models of disk dynamics, including a proper treatment of MHD effects, dust growth, settling, and feedback, as well as accurate radiative transfer calculations that can generate synthetic images for comparison to data. The goal of this project is to compute such models. We will calculate the most realistic global numerical models of protoplanetary disks and disk-planet interaction to date, compute synthetic images of the models based on a self-consistent treatment of the dust dynamics in the disk, and compare these models to interpret existing data and to predict future observations. In particular, we will compare our models with observations from existing NASA space missions (e.g. Spitzer, Herschel), and ground based telescopes (e.g. ALMA, EVLA, VLT, Subaru, Gemini), and we will make predictions for future observations. The proposed first-principle calculations (including MHD effects, dust-gas dynamics, and radiative transfer) will address fundamental questions on protoplanetary disks and allow us to study planet formation processes in detail. The predictions from these simulations will not only be compared with observations (e.g. ALMA) directly, but also serve as a foundation for understanding planet formation and exoplanet properties for future space missions (e.g. JWST, WFIRST, TESS).
Dr. Zhu will hire a postdoc to be included in the research. The postdoc will work with Zhu and Jim Stone from Princeton University. The UNLV's supercomputer "Cherry Creek" will be used as will, NASA Pleiades, and Stampede at Texas Advanced Computing Center.
