ESR 5

Thesis title: Molecular complexity in protoplanetary disks.

Supervisor: Dr. Claudio Codella (INAF)

Co-Supervisor: Dr. Linda Podio (INAF)

Recruitment Institution: INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Firenze, Italy

Doctoral School: University of Florence, Italy

Mobility: The ESR will spend 6 months at IRAM (Grenoble, France) under the supervision of Dr. A. López-Sepulcre.

Eligibility: European and non-European students who not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, ect.) in Italy for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the recruitment date.

Thesis description:

A key open question in astrochemistry is how chemical complexity builds up along the formation process of Sun-like stars from prestellar cores to protoplanetary disks and ultimately to planets. Is the chemical composition of planets inherited from the prestellar and protostellar stages? Or does it reflect chemical processes occurring in the disk? Are organic molecules efficiently formed in disks and via what mechanism(s)?

The thesis project aims at investigate the physical structure and the chemical content of planet-forming disks by analysing molecular lines and continuum emission at 20-200 au scales. The PhD student will reduce and analyse (sub-)millimeter single-dish and interferometric data taken in the context of the NOEMA-SOLIS and ALMA-FAUST Large Programs of the ACO team, plus complementary new data taken with the NOEMA and ALMA interferometers. Finally, the chemical composition of the protoplanetary disks will be compared with that observed in comets, which preserve a nearly pristine record of the Solar Nebula composition.

The thesis is part of the ACO network, whose ultimate goal is to reconstruct the early history of the Solar System by comparing presently forming solar-type planetary systems with its small bodies. The comparison will be based on the most advanced astrochemical knowledge, which will be developed by the interdisciplinary ACO team.