Partner institutions

Max Planck Institute  for Solar System Research, Göttingen

MPS is one of the very few institutes worldwide that covers the solar system in all of its aspects, complemented by research on related astronomical objects beyond the solar system, in particular Sun-like stars and exoplanets. The research is mainly structured into three scientific departments.

Planetary Science Department

The central theme of the “Planetary Science” Department (Prof. Dr. Thorsten Kleine) is the formation and evolution of the solar system and its planets. Research topics comprise planet formation; cosmochemistry; planets and smaller solar system bodies, such as comets and asteroids; their structure, composition, and dynamic processes, from the deep interior through their surface layers and atmosphere to the plasma environments; and comparative planetology.

Department Solar and Stellar Interiors

The central theme of the Department “Solar and Stellar Interiors” (Prof. Dr. Laurent Gizon) is the physics of the interior of the Sun and Sun-like stars. Research topics comprise helioseismology and asteroseismology, internal dynamics of the Sun and stars, solar and stellar activity cycles, solar-stellar connection, and the characterization of planet-host stars and exoplanets.

Department Sun and Heliosphere

The central theme of the Department “Sun and Heliosphere” (Prof. Dr. Sami K. Solanki) is the magnetically coupled solar atmosphere and the solar activity resulting from this coupling, which can influence the Earth. Research topics comprise the atmosphere of the Sun with its rich structure and dynamics; solar magnetic field as the main driver of solar activity and dynamics; Sun-Earth relations and the solar-stellar connection. There are on-going efforts to appoint a new Director with a research interest in one or more of the topics of solar atmosphere, heliosphere, and solar-stellar relations, as Prof. Solanki is scheduled to proceed to Emeritus status in 2025.

ERC Grant Groups, Max Planck Research Group, Max Planck Fellow Group, Max Planck Partner Groups, Emeritus Groups

The primary research by the departments is complemented by a number of separate research groups, some of which are completely independent, some of which are integrated into one of the departments but have a clear thematic and organizational profile of their own, and some of which are closely interwoven with one of the departments: Among the latter are “Wholesun: Untangling the complex physical mechanisms behind our eruptive star and its twins” (ERC Synergy Grant, Prof. Dr. Laurent Gizon) and “WINSUN - New Windows onto the Sun: Probing the Sun’s magnetic field with an array of new missions and observatories” (ERC Advanced Grant, Prof. Dr. Sami K. Solanki). The Institute furthermore is host to several distinct groups based on ERC Grants. The two currently active grants are “ORIGIN: Resolving magnetic ORIGINs of the hot solar atmosphere” (ERC Starting Grant, Dr. Lakshmi Pradeep Chitta) and “PLANETOIDS: Formation of planetary building blocks throughout time and space” (ERC Starting Grant, Dr. Joanna Drążkowska). A new grant to Prof. Shapiro since 2024 “REVEAL: Revealing Signatures of Habitable Worlds Hidden by Stellar Activity” (ERC Synergy Grant, Prof. Shapiro), inititally established at MPS, is now moving to University of Graz, Austria, where the grant holder has just been appointed as a new professor, while Prof. Agarwal (ERC Starting Grant “CAstRA: Activity of Comets and Asteroids” until 2023) was appointed as a Lichtenberg professor at TU Braunschweig in 2020.

The Institute hosts the Max Planck Research Group (MPRG) “ComFyDA: Computational Flow Physics and Data Assimilation” (Dr. Xiaojue Zhu), and the Max Planck Fellow group “Inverse Problems” (Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hohage). In addition, the Institute has three Max Planck Partner Groups (Dr. Guneshwar Singh Thangjam, in Bhubaneswar, India; Dr.-Ing. Francisco Iglesias, in Mendoza, Argentina; Prof. Dr. Jordan Philidet, in Paris, France), two of which are being led by IMPRS alumni. An Emeritus Group has been approved for Prof. Solanki for a two-year period following his department directorship.

The MPS is oriented predominantly toward observation-driven research, with an emphasis on the development and construction of instruments for space missions, and the analysis of the collected data. Ground-based, balloon-borne and in particular space-borne telescopes provide the light for imaging and spectroscopic techniques, applied in a wide spectral range from X-rays up to infrared and mm wavelength ranges. In-situ measurements with instruments aboard space probes, and sample return experiments are essential for the analysis of the surfaces, atmospheres and magnetospheres of the solar system bodies, as well as for the exploration of the interplanetary plasma and the solar wind. The interiors of the Sun, stars and planets are probed by helioseismology, asteroseismology and by geophysical methods. The wealth of observational data provide an excellent basis for many PhD theses. A second important pillar new to the MPS are laboratory studies, in particular isotope analyses, of extraterrestrial samples. The Institute has set up a new mass spectrometry laboratory with powerful multicollector plasma mass spectrometers and thermal ionization mass spectrometers, which are able to determine differences in isotope ratios to within a few parts per million, to analyse meteorite samples as well as lunar material brought to Earth by the Apollo missions, and in the future also material brought back by unmanned space probes from sample return missions to asteroids, the Moon, or Mars. Another major pillar is numerical modeling, based on state-of-the-art simulation codes and tools. Simulations play an increasingly important role and significantly enhance the analysis and interpretation of the data obtained, and are often indispensable for understanding the results obtained from the data. In addition, they may identify relevant physical phenomena in advance of observations and thus guide the design of instruments and observations.

MPS has participated in the design, development, manufacturing and scientific exploitation of about 50 instruments onboard space probes, primarily for ESA and NASA missions. It has provided instrument contributions to seven currently active space missions (SoHO, Cluster-II, Mars Express, STEREO, BepiColombo, Solar Orbiter, JUICE) and is involved in the instrument or ground segment development for seven future space missions (ExoMars, Proba-3, PLATO, Solar-C, MUSE, EnVision, Vigil). The MPS also leads the balloon-borne observatory Sunrise and is involved in ground-based observatories for which it develops novel post-focus instrumentation.

Institute for Astrophysics and Geophysics, University of Göttingen

The Institute for Astrophysics and Geophysics in Göttingen is the only university institute in the state of Lower Saxony where teaching and research in astronomy and astrophysics is performed. It is an institute with state-of-the-art facilities within the department of physics at the Georg-August University. Since June 2005 the institute is located in the new building of the physics department, now in close vicinity to the relocated MPS.

The scientific research areas cover the full range of astrophysics using observational data from various ground- and space-based telescopes in combination with numerical simulations as well as theoretical physics. The institute has a long tradition of contributing to the design and building of instruments for ESO, ESA and NASA facilities.

Stellar astrophysics, extra-solar planets and solar physics

Stellar astrophysics is covered by a large variety of methods using asteroseismology, stellar spectroscopy as well as stellar evolution (Profs. Dreizler, Gizon, Reiners). Of specific interest are low-mass M stars, solar-type stars as well as stars in globular clusters. On the one hand stellar astrophysics is closely related to extra-solar planets. Of special interest is the impact of stellar variability on the planet detection. Likewise, a detailed characterization of exoplanets critically relies on the characterization of the planet host star. On the other hand, stellar astrophysics is coupled to galactic astrophysics (Prof. Kollatschny). Globular clusters are primordial building blocks, their dynamics and evolution are used to shed light on galactic evolution. The Sun is used as prototype star for a better understanding of stellar variability, again with a special interest in connection with planets, their detection and characterization as well as their evolution.

Extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology

A large variety of observations over a large range of scales indicate that Dark Matter is dominating structure formation in the universe. The cosmology group (Prof. Niemeyer) currently concentrates on Axions as one of the possible explanations for Dark Matter. Numerical and theoretical cosmological simulations covering various aspects of structure formation from the early universe onward are confronted with astrophysical observations of e. g.the cosmic microwave background and are used to constrain this new physics.

Geophysics

Research and teaching at the Institute for Geophysics concentrates on the structure and dynamics of the interior of the Earth and other planets. Questions of the internal dynamics of solid and fluid planets are addressed by means of computer simulations augmented by laboratory experiments. This topic comprises convective flow in the silicate mantles and in the outer fluid shells of gas planets, the thermal evolution of terrestrial planets, tidal flow, precession driven flow, MHD flow, and magnetic field generation by self-sustained dynamo action in the conducting liquid cores of planets. Participation in the Solar System School is through the group of Prof. Dr. A. Tilgner, whose expertise is in geophysical fluid dynamics with large-scale numerical simulations and laboratory experiments.

Geoscience Center, University of Göttingen

Department of Geobiology - Geoscience Centre, University of Göttingen / Geobiology Research Group

Geochemistry and Isotope Geology Department - Geoscience Center, University of Göttingen

Geobiologie, Geochemistry & Isotope Geology

Research conducted at the Geoscience Center (GZG) covers a wide field of topics, including structural geology, sedimentology, mineralogy, petrology and isotope geochemistry of terrestrial rocks and meteorites and the biochemistry of microorganisms and their specific environments. Most relevant to the participation in the Solar System School is GZG’s expertise on the early solar system and early Earth via geochemical and isotope analysis of meteorites (groups of Prof. Dr. A. Pack and Prof. Dr. M. Willboldt) as well as the chemical analysis of ancient organic-bearing terrestrial sediments (groups of Jan-Peter Duda and Prof. Dr. V. Thiel). Furthermore, the multi-disciplinary Origin-of-Life (OoL) working group (Prof. Dr. J. Reitner, Prof. Dr. J.-P. Duda), Göttingen Academy of Sciences, that is linked to GZG’s Department of Geobiology, addresses a specific aspect of “Early Earth” and as such overarching science questions of MPS and its Solar System School.

Colleagues from the Geoscience Center and the group of Prof. Dr. Thorsten Kleine are both participating in the DFG Collaborative Research Center initiative (Prof. Ansgar Reiners, PI) to pursue joint projects. Also, the laboratory facilities (e.g., high-T experimental facilities, stable oxygen isotope analytics, modern electron microscopy and microanalytics) at the Geoscience Center complement facilities available in the MPS section led by Prof. Dr. Thosten Kleine. Thorsten Kleine is Honory Professor at our Faculty and participates in the Module “Cosmochemistry” in the Geoscience Masters program.

Institute of Numerical and Applied Mathematics, University of Göttingen

Since its foundation in the winter semester of 1969/70, the Institute for Numerical and Applied Mathematics (NAM) in Göttingen has been working to strengthen the application of applied mathematics in research and teaching, with a focus on numerical mathematics, physical mathematics and computer science as part of applied mathematics. The scientific research areas cover a broad spectrum, including mathematical signal and image processing, mathematical-scientific computing, structure finding in complex data, indirect measurements in the natural sciences and inverse problems.

Inverse Problems

Inverse problems tackle the reconstruction of causes based on observed effects, such as in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or coherent x-ray imaging. The basic difficulty in the numerical solution of inverse problems consists in the ill-posedness of most of these problems in the sense that arbitrarily small measurement errors may cause large errors in the reconstruction and can be addressed by regularization and incorporating a-priori information. The head of the Inverse Problem group at the NAM, Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hohage, has a formal collaboration with MPS as a Max Planck Fellow, which includes the joint supervision and funding of PhD projects. One of the aims of the collaboration is to refine numerical methods to reconstruct interior properties of the Sun from observations of the Sun’s surface.

Institute for Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics, TU Braunschweig

The Institute of Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics (IGEP) is the largest institute of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, Physics at TU Braunschweig . The institute is comprised of five working groups, covering a wide range of topics in geophysics, space physics, astronomy and planet formation.

The group on applied geophysics (Prof. Dr. Hördt) develops methods to determine electric and magnetic properties of the soil and deeper rock layers down to depths of several hundred meters, thereby allowing for the localization of groundwater, the characterization of ore deposits or the search for unexploded ordnance. In addition, innovative approaches are being developed to determine whether the ground is frozen or not. These methods are of crucial importance to analyze the effects of climate change on permafrost soils worldwide.

Electrical methods are further developed in the group on urban geophysics (Prof. Dr. Bücker) in order to investigate materials, objects and processes underground in an urban environment in a non-destructive manner. The ”urban laboratory” with its numerous sources of interference, limited space, access restrictions and a heavily disturbed subsurface represents a particularly challenging environment for the application of geophysical methods.

The group on space physics and space instrumentation (Prof. Dr. Plaschke) is engaged in the study of plasma-physical processes throughout the solar system. In particular, it investigates the highly dynamic interactions between the solar wind plasma and planetary magnetic fields and atmospheres, that are, for instance, responsible for local space weather. Dynamo and induction processes within solar system bodies are being studied using theory and simulations. The group participates in major ESA and NASA spacecraft missions by contributing (especially magnetometers) to their scientific instrumentation.

Small bodies in the solar system such as comets and asteroids, the material they emit into interplanetary space and the processes underlying the emission of this material are the topics of investigation of the group on solar system Astronomy (Prof. Dr. Agarwal). Small bodies are regarded as remnants of planet formation in the early solar system. The group studies their physical properties and composition to better understand what materials they are made of, how they evolved and how they formed. Therefore, data from astronomical telescopes and from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission are being used; computer simulations are performed to interpret the data.

Conditions under which the astronomically observable small dust particles clump together into larger clumps around young stars are also investigated by the group on planetary formation and small bodies in the solar system (Prof. Dr. Blum). Many different small bodies in the solar system are objects of research, whereby small also includes our moon. In contrast to other research groups working on these topics, this group not only creates models, but also carries out experiments to investigate astrophysical processes. These experiments take place either in the group’s own laboratories or under zero gravity conditions.

Institute for Theoretical Physics, TU Braunschweig

The Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITP) covers wide areas of computational astro- and space physics (Prof. Dr. Yasuhito Narita) and solid state physics (Prof. Dr. Wolfraum Brenig). The astrophysics group joins in the IMPRS Solar System School, using theoretical and numerical methods (fluid, hybrid, and particle schemes) for various plasma physics problems in the solar system such as fundamental processes (waves and instabilities) solar wind interactions with the planetary objects, tool development for the spacecraft data analysis.

Institute of Computer and Network Engineering, TU Braunschweig

In more than 50 years, the research of the Institute of Computer and Network Engineering at the TU Braunschweig has actively contributed to the enormous progress in efficient, dependable and safe computers and network systems. Computer and network engineering is at the research-intensive core of future intelligent autonomous systems. As their main application domains, IDA researchers address complex embedded and cyber-physical space and automotive systems, combining sophisticated theory with computer and network architecture and design all the way to practical hardware-software designs.

Prof. Dr. Andrés Gómez is Professor of Robust Hardware and Software Systems whose research topics include low-power system design, IoT networks, and artificial intelligence. Several of these topics are highly relevant for space mission system design and implementation, which are also the focus of some of the IMPRS theses done at MPS.

• Technische Universität Clausthal
• Universität Hannover
• Technische Universität Berlin
• Universität Rostock
• Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
• Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Universität Bielefeld
• Universität zu Köln
• Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
• ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• Universität Bern, Switzerland
• University of Catania, Italy
• Sorbonne Université, France
• Université de Paris, France
• Université de Nice - Sophia Antipolis, France
• Université de Toulouse, France
• Université de Liège, Belgium
• University of Kent, UK
• University College London, UK
• Open University, UK
• National Institute For Space Research, Brazil
• Space Research Institute, Moscow
• National Central University, Taiwan
• Peking University Beijing, China
• CAS Beijing, China
• CAS Nanjing, China
• Shanghai, China
• Hefei, China
• University of Tokyo, Japan

Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization Göttingen