Wenjun Chen

I am a first-year PhD student in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group at the University of Warwick. I work with Prof. Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay on metal-polluted white dwarf atmospheres. My research focuses on metal-polluted white dwarf atmospheres using state-of-the-art 3D atmospheric modelling.

My main PhD project investigates metal-polluted white dwarf atmospheres. White dwarfs are expected to have atmospheres composed almost entirely of hydrogen or helium; the presence of heavier elements indicates ongoing accretion of planetary debris. By analysing polluted white dwarf spectra, we can infer the bulk composition of rocky exoplanetary material.

I am currently using the 3D radiation-hydrodynamics stellar atmosphere code CO5BOLD to simulate the 3D convection effect on the metal pollution on white dwarfs' observed spectra and aiming to compare them to observations. This work aims to see if the current white dwarf atmosphere will "break down" in the case of metal pollution from planetary debris.

In parallel, I continue my MSc research on modelling the atmospheres of young exoplanets using 1D atmospheric models. During my MSc project, I modified the VULCAN photochemical code to include time-dependent stellar activity, enabling studies of non-equilibrium atmospheric chemistry under stellar flaring conditions. My master's thesis is available here, and the modified code will soon be released on my GitHub Link.

Besides my research projects, I'm also a graduate teaching assistant for the math problem class and 3rd year Lab.