Dr Seamus Clarke
I'm an astrophysicist focusing on the problem of star formation and am a Assistant Professor at National Cheng Kung University. The physics of the star formation process is one of the biggest open questions in astrophysics and has profound effects ranging from the evolution of galaxies to the formation of planets. To better understand star formation, I use both observations and numerical simulations, with a particular interest in the comparison of the two and the application of statistical and machine learning techniques.
Research interests
My research is split into three main topics: (magneto-)hydrodynamic simulations of filament evolution and fragmentation to determine how filament geometry affects star formation, synthetic observations of my simulations to compare to and interpret real observations, and continuum and molecular line observations of giant molecular filaments to study their kinematics and fragmentation. I am also interested in larger-scale problems such as the formation of molecular clouds and the effects of supernovae on dense molecular gas, as well as smaller-scale problems such as disk and outflow physics, and hot-core chemistry.
For more details on my recent work
For students at NCKU, I have multiple research projects suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students. These projects cover both observations and simulations for students looking to better understand radio astronomy and numerical techniques in astrophysics while improving their coding abilities. If you are interested in pursuing such a project, please contact me or visit my office.
Code development
During the course of my research I have developed and contributed to a number of analysis codes. As I believe in open science I have made these public for use by the wider star formation community.
- RJ-plots is a Python module which builds upon the earlier J-plots module to automatically classify 2D structures using their moments of inertia. It approximately separates a structure's elongation from its central concentration, allowing easy interpretation and analysis.
- FragMent is a Python/C module which combines a number of fragmentation analysis techniques and model selection tools to characterise the fragmentation of filaments. While it was designed specifically for filament fragmentation it can be applied to study any form of fragmentation.
- BTS is a Python module designed to fit optically thin spectral line emission. It is fully-automated and can deal with multiple velocity components, allowing for the quick and easy fitting of data cubes containing 10,000s of complex spectra.
- J-plots is a Python module written by Dr Sarah Jaffa which quantifies the 2D and 3D morphology of pixelated structures using their moments of inertia. This technique can be applied to volume density cubes, column density maps or molecular line emission.
- FilChaP is a Python module written by Dr Sümeyye Suri which allows for the easy characterisation of filament properties, such as their width and length, in 2D and 3D.
Publications
Here is a list of my recent publications. Below one can find a complete list of my publications, a link to NASA ADS, and a copy of my thesis.
ALMAGAL III. Compact source catalog: Fragmentation statistics and physical evolution of the core population
Coletta, A. ; Molinari, S. ; Schisano, E. ; Traficante, A. ; Elia, D. ; Benedettini, M. ; Mininni, C. ; Soler, J. D. ; Sánchez-Monge, Á. ; Schilke, P. ; Battersby, C. ; Fuller, G. A. ; Beuther, H. ; Zhang, Q. ; Beltrán, M. T. ;
Jones, B. ; Klessen, R. S. ; Walch, S. ; Fontani, F. ; Avison, A. ; Brogan, C. L. ; Clarke, S. D. ; Hatchfield, P. ; Hennebelle, P. ; Ho, P. T. ; Hunter, T. R. ; Johnston, K. G. ; Klaassen, P. D. ; Koch, P. M. ; Kuiper, R. ; Lis, D. C. ; Liu, T. ; Lumsden, S. L. ; Maruccia, Y. ; Möller, T. ; Moscadelli, L. ; Nucara, A. ; Rigby, A. J. ; Rygl, K. L. J. ; Sanhueza, P. ; van der Tak, F. ; Wells, M. R. A. ; Wyrowski, F. ; De Angelis, F. ; Liu, S. ; Ahmadi, A. ; Bronfman, L. ; Liu, S.-Y. ; Su, Y.-N. ; Tang, Y.-W. ; Testi, L. ; Zinnecker, H.
Accepted 03/2025 A&A.
ALMAGAL I. The ALMA evolutionary study of high-mass protocluster formation in the Galaxy. Presentation of the survey and early results
Molinari, S. ; Schilke, P. ; Battersby, C. ; Ho, P. T. P. ; Sanchez-Monge, A. ; Traficante, A. ; Jones, B. ;
Beltran, M. T. ; Beuther, H. ; Fuller, G. A. ; Zhang, Q. ; Klessen, R. S. ; Walch, S. ; Tang, Y.-W. ;
Benedettini, M. ; Elia, D. ; Coletta, A. ; Mininni, C. ; Schisano, E. ; Avison, A. ; Law, C. Y. ; Nucara, A. ;
Soler, J. D. ; Stroud, G. ; Wallace, J. ; Wells, M. R. A. ; Ahmadi, A. ; Brogan, C. L. ; Hunter, T. R. ; Liu, S.-Y. ; Pezzuto, S. ; Su, Y.-N. ; Zimmermann, B. ; Zhang, T. ; Wyrowski, F. ; De Angelis, F. ; Liu, S. ; Clarke, S. D. ; Fontani, F. ; Klaassen, P. D. ; Koch, P. ; Johnston, K. G. ; Lebreuilly, U. ; Liu, T. ; Lumsden, S. L. ; Moeller, T. ; Moscadelli, L. ; Kuiper, R. ; Lis, D. ; Peretto, N. ; Pfalzner, S. ; Rigby, A. J. ; Sanhueza, P. ; Rygl, K. L. J. ;
van der Tak, F. ; Zinnecker, H. ; Amaral, F. ; Bally, J. ; Bronfman, L. ; Cesaroni, R. ; Goh, K. ; Hoare, M. G. ; Hatchfield, P. ; Hennebelle, P. ; Henning, T. ; Kim, K. T. ; Kim, W. -J. ; Maud, L. ; Merello, M. ; Nakamura, F. ; Plume, R. ; Qin, S.-L. ; Svoboda, B. ; Testi, L. ; Veena, V. S. ; Walker, D.
Accepted 03/2025 A&A.
Alignment Parameters: Quantifying Dense Core Alignment in Star-forming Regions
Chen, W.-A. ; Tang, Y.-W. ; Clarke, S. D.
Published 01/2025 ApJ.
How do supernova remnants cool? II. Machine learning analysis of supernova remnant simulations
Smirnova, P. ; Makarenko, E. I. ; Clarke, S. D. ; Glukhov, E. ; Walch, S. ; Vaezzadeh, I. ; Seifried, D.
Published 01/2025 A&A.
Dynamical accretion flows: ALMAGAL: Flows along filamentary structures in high-mass
star-forming clusters
Wells, M. R. A. ; Beuther, H. ; Molinari, S. ; Schilke, P. ; Battersby, C. ; Ho, P. ; Sánchez-Monge, Á. ;
Jones, B. ; Scheuck, M. B. ; Syed, J. ; Gieser, C. ; Kuiper, R. ; Elia, D. ; Coletta, A. ; Traficante, A. ; Wallace, J. ; Rigby, A. J. ; Klessen, R. S. ; Zhang, Q. ; Walch, S. ; Beltrán, M. T. ; Tang, Y. ; Fuller, G. A. ; Lis, D. C. ;
Möller, T. ; van der Tak, F. ; Klaassen, P. D. ; Clarke, S. D. ; Moscadelli, L. ; Mininni, C. ; Zinnecker, H. ; Maruccia, Y. ; Pezzuto, S. ; Benedettini, M. ; Soler, J. D. ; Brogan, C. L. ; Avison, A. ; Sanhueza, P. ;
Schisano, E. ; Liu, T. ; Fontani, F. ; Rygl, K. L. J. ; Wyrowski, F. ; Bally, J. ; Walker, D. L. ; Ahmadi, A. ; Koch, P. ; Merello, M. ; Law, C. Y. ; Testi, L.
Published 10/2024 A&A.
A complete list of publications NASA ADS search My PhD. Thesis
Contact
Dr Seamus Clarke,
National Cheng Kung University
Office 36755, Department of Physics,
No. 1, University Road,
Tainan City, 701,
Taiwan, R.O.C.
sclarke at phys.ncku.edu.tw
https://github.com/SeamusClarke
ORCID: 0000-0001-9751-4603