Interstellar objects in a galactic context

The discovery of the first interstellar objects observed travelling through the Solar System - 1I/'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov has created great interest.

These small worlds are samples of the building blocks of planet formation that took place at other stars, and come close enough for the kind of detailed physical characterisation hitherto reserved for our own Solar System's comets and asteroids. The upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory's LSST survey will offer the first chance to characterise this population.

The aim of this PhD project is to build on a novel insight: we can use the EAGLE simulations of the star-formation history of analogues of the Milky Way, together with models of how planetesimals form, to understand the population of interstellar objects that Rubin will detect.

This offers an opportunity for a truly novel test of our understanding of two very different areas of astrophysics - the structure and history of the Milky Way, and planet formation.

It is thus an inherently interdisciplinary project and will equip a student with a broad range of knowledge and statistical skills.

I would also expect there to be significant public interest in the topic, especially in the lead up to first light at the Vera Rubin Observatory, and there is thus a significant opportunity to achieve impact through public engagement.

Software developed under the project will be released under a liberal open source license, and documented via publication in JOSS or elsewhere.