Jonathan Heiner's Homepage

Research

Cover of my PhD thesis (picture by Loes Heiner-van Dalen)

After obtaining my Master's Degree in Astronomy in April 2004 I left for Baltimore, MD, on June 2 to start working on my PhD project at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). My advisors were Prof. Dr. R.J. Allen and Prof. Dr. P.C. van der Kruit. After having been temporarily housed at the Broadview Apartments, I moved into an efficiency apartment within walking distance of the Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus. At the beginning of July 2007 I returned to Groningen to finish my thesis. I received my PhD on April 6, 2009.

For my thesis project I studied Large-Scale Photodissociation Regions in the nearby spiral galaxies M33, M81, and M83. Atomic hydrogen produced in these PDRs, driven by OB star clusters, can be used to trace the underlying molecular gas. This 'PDR method' is a promising tool to find cold, lower-density molecular hydrogen, that is otherwise hard to detect directly. This method is particular sensitive to low density gas, as opposed to methods using carbon monoxide, that are sensitive to high density or high temperature gas.

Publications can be found through ADS. My thesis is available through the University of Groningen library.
Please contact me if you would like to receive a copy of my thesis. My contact information can be found through this page.

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