Akib et al. 2025aThis is an international project supervised by Istiak Akib, PhD candidate, Laboratoire d’Instrumentation et de Recherche en Astrophysique (LIRA), Observatoire de Paris, Paris Sciences et Lettres University (PSL). Akib is also a Graduate Associate Member of CASSA.
The project is about dynamics in the Local Group (LG) which is dominated by its two massive spiral galaxies: Andromeda galaxy (M31) and Milky Way (MW). The motion of objects (stars, globular clusters, dwarfs) near these galaxies depends on the mass distribution of these galaxies, allowing us to find the past and future positions and velocities. On the other hand, the motion of these objects allow us to determine the mass distributions. Such determinations on the both cases need to take into account the equilibrium conditions and the systematics.
Example of ongoing works are: Origin and the dynamics of the MW dwarfs (Akib et al. 2025a), Local Group Mass estimation from the dynamics of the MW-M31 system (Akib et al. 2025b), MW mass estimate from the Gaia DR3 rotation curve.
For more details, please visit Akib’s website here.
Akib is looking for motivated undergraduate, postbac or graduate students who have substantial time for learning and then contributing to the project. The students working on this project will be considered (unpaid) Research Interns of CASSA as well.
If you would like to apply for this project as a Research Intern of CASSA, please email Akib describing your motivation, with a CV attached. The email address is: [email protected]
