The successful candidate will be part of Prof Christiane Helling’s research group Exoplanets: Weather & Climate at the Space Research Institute (IWF) Graz. The project is conducted in collaboration with Prof Robert Peharz from the Graz University of Technology.
In this FWF funded project, we are interested in understanding cloud formation in exoplanets and specifically the formation of molecular cluster as pre-coursers of cloud formation in the diversity of extrasolar planets. We aim to explore advanced neural network architectures, particularly Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) and generative models, to predict the three-dimensional structures and thermo-chemical properties of large molecular clusters - tasks that are computationally prohibitive using traditional methods like Density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics. Our modelling efforts support JWST and CHEOPS in physically interpreting observational data. We further contribute to science case studies and science preparation for PLATO, the high-energy space mission NewATHENA as well as HWO.