How do Planets Form?, by Bertram Bitsch - 2024-02-12
Channel: Cork Astronomy Club
Date: 2024-03-14

Dr. Bertram Bitsch gained his Diploma degree (Master equivalent) in Physics in 2008 from Tübingen University, Germany, with his thesis: "Radiation hydrodynamics in protoplanetary discs". In 2011 he was awarded his PhD in Physics, also from Tübingen University, for his thesis: "Planet-disc interactions in radiative discs".

Until 2013 he was a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur in Nice, France, working on simulations of protoplanetary disc structures. When he moved to Lund Observatory, Sweden, in 2014 as a Senior Research Fellow, he combined his previous knowledge with planet formation simulations to figure out how planets form. This was also the research topic of his European Research Council (ERC)-funded research group at the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, where from 2018 to 2023 he and his team studied how planets can form in different disc environments through hydrodynamical and N-body simulations. Appointed in 2023 as a Full Professor of Astrophysics at University College, Cork (UCC), Ireland, Dr. Bitsch continues his research on planet formation simulations to attempt to answer the following detailed questions:

- How do giant planets get enriched with heavy elements?
- How do giant planets influence their inner systems?
- How did the Solar System form?
- How do stellar parameters influence planet formation and their compositions?
- How do planets form in different galactic environments?

(Sources: https://www.ucc.ie/en/physics/people/professorbertrambitsch/; https://www.ucc.ie/en/media/academic/physics/physicsmainwebsite/staffimages/academicstaff/BertramBitschCV.pdf)

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In this lecture to Cork Astronomy Club on 12 February 2024, Bertram outlines his research on computer simulations of accretion and planet formation in protoplanetary discs. Inside these accretion discs, small dust particles stick to each other to form pebbles, which in turn form planetesimals and planetary embryos, and grow to planets with orbital parameters that are subject to modification. These processes are influenced by the underlying structure of the protoplanetary disc, specifically the profiles of temperature, gas scale height, and density.

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