Boy Lankhaar

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Oslo, working as an MSCA Fellow within the DSTrain programme. My research interests sit at the intersection of theoretical chemistry, radiative transfer, and radio astronomy: I want to understand the role of magnetic fields in shaping astrophysical systems, from the disks where planets form to the centres of galaxies.

Before Oslo, I was a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden Observatory and at Chalmers University of Technology (Onsala Space Observatory), supported by a Swedish Research Council grant. My PhD thesis, Tracing Cosmic Magnetic Fields Using Molecules, developed quantum-chemical and modelling tools to interpret polarized molecular line emission.

• A quantum theory of the alignment and polarization of very small dust grains

  B. Lankhaar · arXiv preprint (2026)

  A quantum-mechanical theory of the smallest interstellar dust grains, predicting when their microwave glow becomes polarized — a possible contaminant of CMB B-mode searches.

• A Radially Resolved Magnetic Field Threading the Disk of TW Hya

  R. Teague, B. Lankhaar, S. M. Andrews, C. Qi, R. R. Fu, D. J. Wilner, J. B. Biersteker, J. R. Najita · The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2025)

  First radially resolved measurement of the magnetic field threading a planet-forming disk — about 10 milligauss, switching from a vertical to an in-plane orientation across a known gap.

• The fountain of the luminous infrared galaxy Zw049.057 as traced by its OH megamaser

  B. Lankhaar, S. Aalto, C. Wethers, J. Moldón, R. Beswick, M. Gorski, S. König, C. Yang, J. Mangum, J. Gallagher, F. Combes, D. Rigopoulou, E. González-Alfonso, S. Muller, I. Garcia-Bernete, C. Henkel, Y. Nishimura, C. Ricci · Astronomy & Astrophysics (2024)

  A nearby buried galactic nucleus is launching a two-speed wind — a fast collimated jet that escapes, wrapped in a slower "fountain" that rains back down — traced by high-velocity HCN emission and one of the brightest OH megamasers known.

• Apr 2026 New preprint out — A quantum theory of the alignment and polarization of very small dust grains. arXiv:2604.26001
• Sep 2025 Started as MSCA Fellow (DSTrain programme) at the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo.
• Aug 2025 Paper accepted in ApJL — A Radially Resolved Magnetic Field Threading the Disk of TW Hya (Teague, Lankhaar et al. 2025).
• Sep 2024 First-author paper on a two-component “fountain” outflow in the LIRG Zw049.057 traced by its OH megamaser, published in A&A.