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The Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) is dedicated to astrophysical questions ranging from the exploration of our Sun to the evolution of the cosmos. It focuses on the study of cosmic magnetic fields, extragalactic astrophysics and the development of research technologies in the fields of spectroscopy, robotic telescopes and E-science.
Dr Maria Werhahn receives the Carl Ramsauer Award 2023 of the Physikalische Gesellschaft zu Berlin e.V. for her outstanding doctoral thesis at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and the University of Potsdam.
After a long break, the Great Refractor will again open its dome for public observation evenings. In Case of clear skies, everyone interested has the chance to take a look through the fourth largest refracting telescope in the world and get to know the historic telescope.
Galaxies are fundamental cosmic building blocks. At the largest scales, they serve as markers to study the distribution of matter in the universe - active galaxies and quasars are particularly important because of their intrinsic brightness. Nearby objects can be spatially resolved and consist of populations with very different patterns of motion, star formation histories and chemical abundances.
Cosmic events are determined by two natural forces: gravity and magnetic fields. The magnetic field research at the AIP is mainly focused on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, the magnetically induced activities on the Sun and the stars, solar coronaphysics as well as space weather in our solar system and on planets around other stars.
Commonly thought to be long-lived satellites of our galaxy, a new study now finds indications that most dwarf galaxies might in fact be destroyed soon after their entry into the Galactic halo.
Dr Maria Werhahn receives the Carl Ramsauer Award 2023 of the Physikalische Gesellschaft zu Berlin e.V. for her outstanding doctoral thesis at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and the University of Potsdam.
Commonly thought to be long-lived satellites of our galaxy, a new study now finds indications that most dwarf galaxies might in fact be destroyed soon after their entry into the Galactic halo.
In the spirit of Copernicus’s revolutionary idea and in honour of his 550th anniversary, a one-day Heraeus symposium will take place in Berlin on 10 November, focussing on our place in the universe, galaxy and solar system.
Recent observations of high-redshift galaxies (z = 1 - 9) reveal many have gas-rich discs with well-ordered rotation and elevated levels of star formation and turbulence. Some discs (z = 1 - 5) show evidence of spiral arms, and either stellar or gaseous bars. These remarkable observations have motivated us to explore a new class of dynamically self-consistent models using our updated AGAMA/Ramses N-body codes to mimic a plausible progenitor of the Milky Way. We explore gas fractions from 0 to 100%, and track the creation of stars and metals. The high gas surface densities encourage vigorous star formation, which in turn couples with the gas to drive turbulent pressure support. We explore three distinct histories: (i) there is no ongoing accretion and the gas is used up by the star formation; (ii) the star-forming gas is replenished by cooling in the hot halo gas; (iii) we revisit these models in the presence of a strong perturbing force. The turbulent gas forms a strong radial shear flow that creates a co-existing stellar and gaseous bar within a few 100 Myr. Remarkably, a gas bar is formed even when there is no stellar disc (f_gas ~ 100%). For f_gas < 70%, all bars survive to the end of the simulation (2 Gyr) but, for higher gas fractions, the bars evolve into central bulges after 1 Gyr. The gas bars are reminiscent of recent discoveries from high-redshift ALMA observations of gaseous discs.