Yuri Aikawa

Office

Science Building No.1, 11F

Research Interests

Formation of stars and planetary systems, Astrochemistry

Overview of Researches

I am working on the formation of stars and planetary systems. Stars are formed by a gravitational collapse of molecular cloud cores. As the cores have angular momentum, new-born stars are surrounded by circumstellar disks. The disks are birth sites of planetary systems, and thus are called “protoplanetary disks”. Molecular clouds and protoplanetary disks consist of molecular gas and small dust grains. Chemical composition of these gas and dust, i.e. raw material of planetary systems, is important for planetary system formation. Astronomers observe radiation from the cores and disks to study how the stars and planetary systems are formed. Choices of molecular lines are important, since the molecular abundances vary with time, density, and temperature. In planetary sciences, chemical compositions of the primordial matter, such as comets and meteorites are intensively observed and analyzed to investigate the origin of our Solar system. Theoretical modeling and observation of disk chemistry will link these information on the Solar system to more general astronomical phenomena. I mainly work on the numerical simulations of molecular evolution in molecular clouds and protoplanetary disks, which are compared with observations.

Career

Education

• PhD. Department of Earth and Planetary Physics, University of Tokyo

Previous Jobs

• JSPS Research Abroad (Ohio State University)
• JSPS Postdoctral Fellow (University of Tokyo)
• Assistant Professor, Department of Eath and Planetary Sciences, Kobe University
• Associate Professor, Department of Eath and Planetary Sciences, Kobe University
• Professor, Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Awards

• Nishida Prize
• 2016 Best Faculty (University of Tsukuba)

Links

• Publications (ADS)
• Next Generation Astrochemistry (Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A) 2020–2024)