Michał Różyczka's research interests are in computational astrophysical hydrodynamics. His past numerical simulations include collapse and fragmentation of molecular clouds, stellar wind bubbles, supernova remnants, planetary nebulae, dynamics of accretion disks, magnetic fields in accretion disks, accretion disks in dwarf novae, protoplanetary disks, evolution of solids in protoplanetary disks, disk-planet interaction.

His recent areas of investigation include:

• Structure and dynamics of layered protoplanetary disks. This work is a study of axisymmetric and full-3D models of layered protoplanetary discs with effects of radiation transfer taken into account. The models with a residual viscosity in the dead zone exhibit various instabilities which on a large scale may be related to FU Ori outbursts, and on a small scale may account for the formation of vortices with high surface density of solids. Collaboration: Richard Wünsch (AI Prague), Hubert Klahr (MPIA)
• Formation and evolution of self-gravitating protoplanetary disks. Comparative SPH AMR simulations of cloud collapse, and fragmentation of marginally unstable disks. Their main aim is to verify the scenario for giant planet formation via gravitational instability of the disk. Collaboration: Artur Gawryszczak (NCAC), Andi Burkert (Munich University Observatory), Lucio Mayer (University of Zurich)
• Dust evolution in protoplanetary disks. The aim of this work is to obtain verifiable predictions of the core accretion - gas capture model. The evolution of gas and solids is followed in detail from the moment when all solids are in the form of small grains to the stage when most of them are in the form of planetesimals. At later evolutionary phases a simplified semi-analytical prescription for planet formation is applied. Collaboration: Kacper Kornet (MPIA), Sebastian Wolf (MPIA)
• The interaction of planets with their parent protoplanetary disks. 2D and 3D AMR simulations of various phenomena resulting from tidal forces between the planet(s) and the disk. Their main aim is to study the process of migration. Collaboration: Szymon Starczewski (NCAC), Artur Gawryszczak (NCAC), Richard Wünsch (AI Prague)

His list of publications is here.

Outreach activities

Różyczka wrote more than 500 popular science articles in various Polish newspapers and journals. In 1998-2003 he was editing the astronomy column in the popular-science monthly Wiedza i życie, and from 2004 till now he has been working for the Polish edition of Scientific American (Świat Nauki)