Ralf Heilmann

Ralf studies how stars form by gravitational collapse from large clouds of gas and dust. After the initial infall, the young stellar objects are surrounded by circumstellar disks, in which planets may form. Often, young stars also drive highly collimated jets into the surrounding medium. Ralf wants to understand how star, disk, and jet interact by looking at the closest star forming regions in our galaxy. He started working in this field by simulating and observing the accretion shock that forms when mass falls from the disk onto the star. The temperatures in this shock are so high, that it can be observed in the X-ray regime with Chandra and XMM-Newton. Today, he also seeks to understand the variability of the inner disk, where the accretion funnel originates, and how mass is ejected into outflows.