PhD in Physics

Start date: 1 October 2026/nDuration: 3.5 years/nLocation: Surrey, United Kingdom/nAbout: Wide-field surveys have revealed the remarkable complexity of the faint Universe, uncovering ultra-faint dwarf galaxies and star clusters that push the limits of known stellar systems. Ultra-faint dwarfs...are likely relics of the earliest galaxies and are dominated by dark matter. Extended clusters (ECs) occupy nearly the same region of parameter space, but their true nature remains unresolved. Recent work further predicts a new class of objects, globular clusters formed within their own dark matter mini-halos (GCDs), which overlap observationally with the EC population. This PhD project aims to: (1) definitively determine the nature of Andromeda’s ECs using new Keck IFU spectroscopy and deep Hubble imaging; (2) investigate newly identified GCD candidates using archival data and simulations; and (3) apply machine-learning classification to Euclid data to map ECs across the Local Volume and place them in a cosmological context.