Katrin Ros

I am a final year astrophysics graduate student at Lund University, Sweden. My main research interest is planet formation: investigating the origins of our own Solar System, as well as exoplanets orbiting other stars.

To understand how planets and their building blocks form and evolve I use computer models to study protoplanetary discs - turbulent planet-forming regions around young stars. The focus of my research is on how ices, such as regular water ice, contribute to and influence planet formation.

In my first paper, Ice condensation as a planet formation mechanism, we showed that condensation can be an efficient mechanism for forming centimetre-sized pebbles in protoplanetary discs - a first step towards planets. In Effect of nucleation on icy pebble growth in protoplanetary discs, we found that even in the presence of abundant dust grains, condensation can give large icy particles when water vapour condenses out.