Simulating the common envelope

HITS welcomes Croucher Fellow Mike Lau as Postdoc in the Physics of Stellar Objects group

The astrophysicist Mike Lau has just started working as a Postdoc in the Physics of Stellar Objects (PSO) group. He has won a Croucher fellowship and has decided to join HITS to intensify his research on a better understanding of theoretical models of stars and stellar objects.  

The Croucher fellowship award is issued by the Hong Kong-based Croucher Foundation which is named after its founder Noel Croucher (1891–1980). It seeks to provide the selected individuals with adequate time to fully engage in their research in an institution outside of Hong Kong.

“We are very happy to have Mike here with us. Mike is one of the best of his generation in his field and has extensive expertise that will help strengthen our work. He has worked in well-known groups before and his results received worldwide attention,” says PSO group leader Friedrich Röpke.

Mike was born and raised in Hong Kong. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Oxford, UK, and did his PhD at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. His primary research interests include interactions in stellar multiples, binary stellar evolution, and common-envelope evolution. At HITS, he will continue his research on the latter, by focusing, inter alia, on 3D hydrodynamic simulations on computer clusters.

Mike says, “The expertise of the PSO group will help me strengthen my capabilities in hydrodynamical modelling. HITS provides an excellent research environment and Heidelberg has one of the largest communities in stellar astrophysics in Europe, if not the world.” This is why Mike chose HITS, where he will stay for at least two years as a Croucher Fellowship awardee.

Media contact:
Dr. Peter Saueressig
Head of Communications
HITS, Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies
+49 (0)6221 533 245
peter.saueressig@h-its.org