Background : This thesis will be carried out as part of the interdisciplinary Dust2Planets project, which aims to study the early stages of planets formation, in particular the growth of dust in protoplanetary discs. Through an innovative approach, which consists in characterizing the optical properties of analogs of such dust particles with microwaves, we will study the signatures of dust growth in proto-planetary discs. Indeed, as the exact growth processes are poorly known, any new direct information, particularly on centimetric dust, will be fundamental.
Objectives : One of the major aims of the PhD work is to enrich our database (EMSCOP) of scattering properties, initiated in a previous PhD work, with measurements of new dust analogs made by 3D printing. These analogs will have realistic and controlled shapes and sizes. Their interactions with electromagnetic waves will be measured in our totally renewed anechoic chamber. These scattering measurements will serve as input to radiative transfer codes to simulate disk images. The results will also be used to quantify the shape and size of the dust particles in the discs and the benefits of the project are numerous and extend beyond astrophysics
Financing : ERC Adv. Grant Dust2Planets
Thesis Director : Amélie Litman
Co-supervisors : Jean-Michel Geffrin (Institut Fresnel) , François Ménard (IPAG)
Main place of activity : Institut Fresnel, Marseille
Contact : J-M Geffrin : jean-michel.geffrin@fresnel.fr
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