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Lehre / Teaching List of publications Co-PI in the DFG Research Unit FOR 2634/1
Selected presentations Planet Formation Witnesses and Probes: TRANSITION DISKS

I am a Professor for Astronomy at the Universitäts-Sternwarte München (USM), which is part of the Faculty of Physics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where I lead the Young Stars & Star Formation Group since October 2008.

I observe Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) with infrared and X-ray observations, in order to investigate the properties and the evolution of protoplanetary disks around the young stars, and to study the stellar populations and star formation histories of young clusters and OB associations. I also investigate the feedback effects of massive stars on the surrounding clouds (i.e. cloud dispersal and triggering of star formation) in various star forming regions, in particular the Carina Nebula and the Scorpius-Centuarus OB association. Another important topic concerns environmental effects (in particular external UV and X-ray irradiation from neighboring stars) on the protoplanetary disks around young stars and their possible effects on the planet formation process.
I have been principal investigator of numerous projects using the X-ray satellites ROSAT, Chandra, and XMM-Newton, the far-infrared satellite Herschel, a visiting astronomer at the Calar Alto Observatory and the Anglo-Australian Observatory, and a principal investigator of numerous observing projects using the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), the ESO VLTI, and the APEX sub-mm telescope.

I am currently involved in the DFG Research Unit FOR 2634/1 Planet Formation Witnesses and Probes: TRANSITION DISKS , where we study the properties and the temporal evolution of protoplanetary disks, and in particular the influence of the strong X-ray emission from young stars on the evolution of the disk via the process of X-ray driven photoevaporation, which can have far-reaching consequences for the planet-formation processes occurring in these disks.

Since 2021 I am one of the Founding Survey Members for the Twinkle space mission. Twinkle will deliver visible and infrared spectroscopy of thousands of exoplanets, stars and protoplanetary disks. These data will be used to connect the results of observational and numerical studies of protoplanetary disk evolution to the properties of the planets.

From the year 2010 until 2014 I served as the German Representative in the ESO Users Committee. From 2007 to 2010 I was involved in the sub-project "The birth and influence of massive stars" in the EU FP6 Marie Curie Research Training Network "CONSTELLATION: The origin of the IMF". In the year 2012 I co-organized the conference "Planet Formation and Evolution 2012".

The following images illustrate some important aspects of my recent research.
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HAWK-I near-infrared image of the Carina Nebula Carina Nebula: Herschel far-infrared LABOCA sub-mm image of the Carina Nebula

Chandra Carina Complex Project
Chandra Carina Complex Project
Mosaic of Speckle images of Young Stellar Objects
High resolution infrared images of Young Stellar Objects
COUP X-ray image of the Orion Nebula Cluster
COUP X-ray image of the Orion Nebula Cluster

My current main research projects are as follows:


The following links lead to a (recently updated) collection of some of my X-ray images and infrared images of star forming regions.

A growing number of new X-ray, infrared, and sub-mm images of the Carina Nebula Complex is available since March 2011 on the webpage describing our Carina Multiwavelength Project.



Prof. Dr. Thomas Preibisch
Universitäts-Sternwarte München
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität 
Scheinerstr. 1
81679 München
Germany

preibisch at usm.uni-muenchen.de
TEL: +49 (0)89-2180-6016

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Last update: 27 August 2022