Star Formation and the Interstellar Medium

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Our research is dedicated to the study of the formation of stars in both our and nearby galaxies, and the interstellar medium. We are interested in what drives and influences the formation of stars (environment, metallicity, ...), and the subsequent formation of planets around those stars. Therefore, we focus on the following fields:

1. Low-mass Star Formation: page
   
   
   • High spatial resolution multiplicity and circumstellar disk studies of young stars (T Tauri stars and Herbig Ae stars)
   • Studies of the initial stellar mass function in the Orion Trapezium cluster and the LMC starburst cluster R136 (30 Doradus)
   • Search for very cool nearby field M-dwarfs and brown dwarfs in young associations
   • Search for giant planets around white dwarfs


2. High-mass Star Formation: page
   
   
   • Origin of massive stars in clusters and in the field
   • Mass segregation in young clusters and dynamical interactions (ejections and runaway OB stars, stellar collisions and mergers, progenitors of gamma-ray bursters)
   • The origin of massive binaries and hierarchical Trapezium-type systems
   • Sequential massive star formation, starbursts.


3. Interstellar Medium and Molecular Clouds: page
   
   
   • SPH simulations of supersonic turbulence and gravo-turbulent cloud fragmentation; numerical models of the formation of star clusters and OB associations;
   
   
   • Formation of molecular clouds from turbulent atomic clouds; application to the early universe (H_2 cloud cooling). supernova-triggered star formation.