Astrophysics at the University of Exeter

Our research is focussed on improving our understanding of how stars, disks, and planets form and evolve, and of the physical processes that occur deep in the atmospheres and interiors of stars and exoplanets. We intend to achieve this goal by developing advanced theoretical models and using a combination of state-of-the art computer modelling and observations obtained from cutting-edge facilities. Stars and planets owe their origins to the gravitational collapse of molecular clouds, resulting in the formation of objects with a wide range of masses. As stars form, they are surrounded by discs of material, which feed the star with mass and are the birthplace of planets. How discs form and evolve, what determines their properties, and how accretion and planet formation proceeds, remain major unsolved questions. Combining different observational methods at various wavelengths and sophisticated computer modelling that include complex physics, we will study in depth all steps, starting from the properties of molecular clouds, that lead to the formation of stars, discs and planets. After stars and sub-stellar objects form, their further evolution is characterised by complex physical processes, such as turbulent convection and magnetism, that shape their internal structure and their observational properties. Exquisite observational data are now available, with for example asteroseismology providing important constrainsts on the internal structure of stars. We will develop theoretical models and use sophisticated numerical models to improve our understanding of stellar interiors, atmospheres, magnetism, and rotation and to explain various observational puzzles. We will also develop new observational techniques, carry out new observations, and build new theoretical models for detecting, characterising, and understanding exoplanets. We will also develop original strategies to optimise the detection of small (Earth-sized) exoplanets by understanding and learning how to see through activity "noise" from the host star. We expect to lead the first images and spectra of directly-observable exoplanets using the James Webb Space Telescope. To describe the physical properties of exoplanet atmospheres, we use the Met Office's computer model for the Earth's climate, which has been specially adapted to deal with the different physical process that occur in exoplanet atmospheres. We will also develop new tools to understand the detailed atmospheric chemistry of irradiated exoplanets and which will be optimised to interpret observations.