Hi, I'm Ahmad - I'm a postdoc in astrophysics at the University of Cologne, working in Steffi Walch-Gassner's group. Previously, I was a postdoc at the University of Exeter working with Clare Dobbs. I did my PhD with Tim Harries, also at Exeter.

My research

I study star formation, specifically how massive stars (>20 solar masses) influence their birth environments through stellar feedback. This includes radiative feedback (photoionization, radiation pressure) and mechanical feedback (stellar winds, supernovae). Some of the questions I am interested in are:

Methods

I simulate stellar feedback in Giant Molecular Clouds using computational hydrodynamics and radiative transfer:

  • I use Monte Carlo radiative transfer on a grid to apply high-accuracy radiative feedback in isolated cloud models. This calculates ionized gas temperatures and radiation pressures for different gas/dust compositions.
  • I carry out galaxy zoom-ins using smoothed particle hydrodynamics and ray tracing. This includes galaxy-scale dynamics and self-consistent interactions between clouds.
I also use synthetic observations to compare models with real astronomical data (e.g. radio free-free continuum, optical recombination/forbidden lines, IR from dust).

Publications

View my papers on ADS

Recent posters

Protostars & Planets VII, Kyoto, Japan, April 2023 (pdf)

CV

Download CV (pdf; updated May 2023)

Contact

Email me