Hannah Sanderson

I obtained my integrated master's in Natural Sciences, specialising in Astrophysics, from the University of Cambridge in 2021. For my master's thesis, I worked with Dr Amy Bonsor to investigate whether the Gaia telescope could find planets around white dwarfs. One of my other areas of interest is stellar magnetic fields and I was able to explore this in the summer of my third year as a Royal Society of Edinburgh, Cormack Undergraduate Vacation Research Scholar. I collaborated with Professor Moira Jardine at the University of St Andrews to investigate whether dust in magnetic stable points in M dwarf coronae could explain the "scallop-shell" phenomenon observed in some M dwarfs. Whilst I was at Cambridge, I was Chair of the Cambridge University Astronomical Society (CUAS) and organised talks on all areas of Astrophysics as well as helping run observing evenings using the telescopes at the Institute of Astronomy. I was also a member of Cambridge Hands.

I am working with James Bryson and Claire Nichols on magnetic field generation in rocky bodies (planets, moons and planetesimals). Magnetic field generation in these bodies requires a partially molten metallic core, in which flow is being driven (often by convection). Therefore, observations of active magnetic fields and historical magnetic fields, recorded as magnetic remanences in rocks, can tell us about the interiors of rocky bodies and their thermal histories.

Currently, I am focussed on magnetic field generation in planetesimals. Planetesimals were small, rocky bodies which formed in the early Solar System and were the building blocks of the terrestrial planets, so we can gain unique insights into Earth’s formation by better understanding the interior compositions and dynamics of these small bodies. I have developed an updated thermal evolution model of planetesimals to predict the timing of dynamo generation in these bodies and to interpret the meteorite paleomagnetic record. In particular, I am interested in the role of mantle viscosity and radiogenic heating in planetesimal dynamo generation.

Sanderson, Hannah R., James FJ Bryson, Claire IO Nichols and Christopher J Davies. “Unlocking planetesimal magnetic field histories: a refined, versatile model for thermal evolution and dynamo generation” arXiv preprint arXiv: 2407.12721 (2024).

Sanderson, Hannah R., James FJ Bryson, and Claire IO Nichols. "Early and elongated epochs of planetesimal dynamo generation." arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.05147 (2024).

H Sanderson, M Jardine, A Collier Cameron, J Morin, J-F Donati, Can scallop-shell stars trap dust in their magnetic fields?, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 518, Issue 3, January 2023, Pages 4734–4745, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3302

Hannah Sanderson, Amy Bonsor, Alexander Mustill, Can Gaia find planets around white dwarfs?, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 517, Issue 4, December 2022, Pages 5835–5852, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2867

Hannah Sanderson

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