Jacob Krag Nørgaard

I am a PhD student at the University of Copenhagen, studying the evolution of the material available for planet formation in protoplanetary disks.

As part of the SEEDS (Studying the Emergence of Exoplanet and Disk Species) group, under the supervision of Giulia Perotti, I use 1D simulations with a modified version of the DustPy simulation framework to investigate how radial transport, collisions, and chemical processes shape the distribution of selected refractory and volatile species. These simulations allow me to explore how the composition of the material available for planet formation changes over time. I plan to extend this work by comparing the models with observations of protoplanetary disks in the near future.

During my master’s thesis, I developed most of the methods and software that I now use in my research. That work focused on the evolution of H₂O vapor and ice, and the effects of their phase transitions at the water ice line. My current research builds on this foundation by extending the model to include additional volatile species and physical processes. The aim of this work is to help explain the observed diversity in the chemical composition of protoplanetary disks and identify the physical and chemical mechanisms responsible.