Hila Glanz, PhD student instructed by Prof. Hagai Perets, won the Council for Higher Education (CHE) scholarship for Outstanding women doctoral students in hi-tech.
Hila’s research, titled “New perspectives on the stellar common envelope evolution” focuses on the common envelope(CEE) mechanism, an important phase in the evolution of many stellar systems. Though it is agreed upon that many multiple stellar systems undergo a CEE, it is currently undetectable directly due to its relatively short duration and low observable released energy. Therefore, we must study this phase by comparing calculations to the final observed systems. Since the systems are big and contain many physical processes, there is currently no single calculation to describe this phase, and we must make numerical simulations which include- hydrodynamics, nuclear reactions, energy transport, gravity and more, all in 3D. During her PhD Hila performs many numerical simulations of CEE in binary and triple stellar systems, running on a computer cluster along with further analytical calculations that contribute to our understanding of this important evolutionary pathway.
Hila began her studies at the Technion in the IDF’s Atuda on the double BSc track in Computer Science and Physics. She did her MSc during her 6 years of military service as an officer in a cyber defense unit, as an R&D team leader. After finishing her service she continued towards her PhD, also under the supervision of Prof. Hagai Perets.
Congratulations Hila!