Dr. Manuel Behrendt
mabe [at] mpe.mpg.de

Welcome to my personal webpage. I’m a staff scientist at the University Observatory LMU Munich in the CAST- group of Prof. Andreas Burkert and a member of the PGN-group at the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching.

We investigate the structure-formation and evolution of galactic discs in the young universe.  Our toolbox consists of high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations within the framework of gravitational disc instability and mock-observations. In addition to the scientific activity, I am supervising students, teaching tutorials and astrophysical lab courses, and am a substitute for the lectures of Prof. Burkert.

Related Research Questions

  • • How do giant clumps or small-scale structure form and evolve?
  • • Under which conditions are the observed kpc-clumps  composed of sub-clumps (clump-clusters)?
  • • Which role plays stellar feedback on the structure formation and the kinematics?
  • • What are the energetic sources driving the observed high random motions?



  • • performance of statically-typed languages like Fortran or C/C++ 
  • • efficient use of the memory 
  • • simple syntax like in high-level languages (e.g. Python, Matlab) 
  • • many functionalities, customizable to the user's problem 
  • • avoid overdoing high-level abstraction (black boxes) 


Fast and efficient data analysis of extensive hydro simulations with the Julia language

I’m developing a fast and efficient post-processing tool for the next generation of large-scale hydro simulations. Key goals are: 


  • • interactivity 
  • • easy to extend
  • • easy to install and update
  • • reproducibility 
  • • runs on multiple platforms 


Find the current public version at https://github.com/ManuelBehrendt/Mera.jl


Private Interests

  • • Sports: running, cycling
  • • Composing: film music, chill-out, other kinds of electronic music
  • • Reading: psychology, personal development
  • • Exploring tech gadgets
  • • Practicing mindfulness and mediation

   List of Publications