DrJacob Kegerreis

Our solar system used to be a much more violent place, with early planets and asteroids crashing into each other to create the worlds we see today.  I use supercomputer simulations to study these giant impacts and other dramatic events and explore how planets, moons, and rings form and evolve.

Recent projects include: exploring new options for the origins of Mars's moons and of Earth's Moon; studying how some of the most extreme exoplanets could have lost their outer layers to become super high-density; and co-developing the REMIX scheme to improve mixing and other details of SPH simulations.

I also lead the planetary development of the open-source SWIFT code (swiftsim.com), which has enabled a more than 100 times increase in the feasible resolution for planetary SPH simulations. 

I am also enthusiastically involved with public outreach and teaching, from co-developing the Universe Makers exhibit where anyone can run their own impact simulations (universemakers.org), to building an 8-bit computer on breadboards and a mini supercomputer from raspberry pi's, and creating visualisations of simulation data that have gained millions of views online (youtu.be/kRlhlCWplqk) and in planetarium shows.

PhD opportunities:  www.imperial.ac.uk/earth-science/prosp-students/phd-opportunities/project-topics/planetary-science/

CV:  CV_Jacob_Kegerreis.pdf