Faculty Research

• Brad Hansen studies the evolution of white dwarf stars and the formation and evolution of planetary systems.
• David Jewitt (ESS/Astro) is interested in the primitive bodies of the Solar System, especially the comets. His hope is that the properties of the comets will throw light on the nature and evolution of the protoplanetary disk.
• Michael Jura is currently interested in mass loss phenomena from red giants and comets, asteroids, and planets around main sequence stars.
• Jean-Luc Margot (ESS/Astro) uses telescopic and spacecraft data to investigate the dynamics, physical properties, formation and evolution of planets.
• Benjamin Zuckerman is interested in identifying young stars near Earth in order to search for planets and understand the formation of solar systems.
• Mike Fitzgerald studies planet formation through direct imaging of extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks. He is also active in the development of astronomical instrumentation.

Postdoctoral Research

• Michal Drahus (ESS) uses submillimeter spectroscopy and other tools to understand the rotation states of primitive bodies, especially the nuclei of comets.
• Aurelie Guilbert (ESS) studies heat transport and thermal evolution of primitive bodies in order to understand how the formation at different locations in the protoplanetary disk can affect the subsequent structure and evolution of bodies. She is a Herschel Postdoc working with David Jewitt.
• Joseph Rhee is a postdoctoral scholar working with Ben Zuckerman on identifying stars with hot dust (>150K) near Earth in order to investigate the formation and the evolution of terrestrial planetary systems.

Graduate Student Research

• Tom Esposito works with Mike Fitzgerald examining planetary debris disks in the infrared for evidence of extrasolar planets or past planet formation and evolution.
• Julia Fang works with Jean-Luc Margot studying dynamical interactions in multiple systems of planets and asteroids.
• Li-Wei Hung works with Mike Fitzgerald studying the direct images of circumstellar debris disks in mid-IR to search for possible exoplanets embedded in the disks.
• Laura Vican
• Siyi Xu works with Michael Jura learning the compositions of extrasolar planetesimals using externally-polluted white dwarfs.

Select Publications:

• Spitzer/MIPS 24 micron Observations of HD 209458b: 3 eclipses, 2.5 transits, and a Phase Curve Corrupted by Instrumental Sensitivity Variations, I. J. M. Crossfield, H. Knutson, J. Fortney, A. P. Showman, N. B. Cowan, D. Deming
• Migration then assembly: Formation of Neptune mass planets inside 1 AU, B. M. S. Hansen (UCLA), N. Murray (CITA)
• Ground-based, Near-infrared Exospectroscopy. II. Tentative Detection of Emission from the Extremely Hot Jupiter WASP-12b, I. J. M. Crossfield, B. M. S. Hansen, T. Barman
• Calibration of Equilibrium Tide Theory for Extrasolar Planet Systems, B. M. S. Hansen
• High Resolution, Differential, Near-infrared Transmission Spectroscopy of GJ 1214b, I. J. M. Crossfield, T. Barman, B. M. S. Hansen
• Orbits of Near-Earth Asteroid Triples 2001 SN263 and 1994 CC: Properties, Origin, and Evolution, J. Fang, J.L. Margot, M. Brozovic, M.C. Nolan, L.A.M. Benner, P.A. Taylor (2011), AJ, 141, 154
• Images of a fourth planet orbiting HR 8799, C. Marois, B. Zuckerman, Q. M. Konopacky, B. Macintosh, T. Barman (2010), Nature, in press
• A New 24 micron Phase Curve for upsilon Andromedae b, Ian J. Crossfield, Brad M. S. Hansen, Joseph Harrington, James Y-K. Cho, Drake Deming, Kristen Menou, & Sara Seager (2010), ApJ, submitted
• Imaging the Molecular Disk Orbiting the Twin Young Suns of V4046 Sgr, David R. Rodriguez, Joel H. Kastner, David Wilner, & Chunhua Qi (2010), ApJ, in press
• Ancient planetary systems are orbiting a large fraction of white dwarf stars, B. Zuckerman, C. Melis, B. Klein, D. Koester, & M. Jura (2010), ApJ, in press
• Echoes of a decaying planetary system: the gaseous and dusty disks surrounding three white dwarfs, C. Melis, M. Jura, L. Albert, B. Klein, & B. Zuckerman (2010), ApJ, in press
• Identification of Magnetite in B-type Asteroids, Bin Yang, David Jewitt (2010), AJ, in press
• The Age of the HD 15407 System and the Epoch of Final Catastrophic Mass Accretion onto Terrestrial Planets around Sun-like Stars, C. Melis, B. Zuckerman, Joseph H. Rhee, & Inseok Song (2010), ApJL, in press
• Strengthening the Case for Asteroidal Accrection: Evidence for Subtle and Diverse Disks at White Dwarfs, J. Farihi, M. Jura, J.-E. Lee, & B. Zuckerman (2010), ApJ, in press
• Discovery of a Luminous Blue Variable with an Ejection Nebula Near the Quintuplet Cluster, Jon C. Mauerhan, Mark R. Morris, Angela S. Cotera, et al. (2010), ApJL, in press
• The Survival of Water within Extrasolar Minor Planets, M. Jura & S. Xu (2010), AJ, in press
• Chemical Abundances in the Externally Polluted White Dwarf GD 40: Evidence of a Rocky Extrasolar Minor Planet, B. Klein, M. Jura, D. Koester, B. Zuckerman, & C. Melis (2010), ApJ, 709, 950
• Pre-Discovery 2007 Image of the HR 8799 Planetary System, Stanimir Metchev, Christian Marois, B. Zuckerman (2009), ApJL, in press
• The Pulsar Planets: A Test Case of Terrestrial Planet Assembly, Brad Hansen, Hsin-Yi Shih, & Thayne Currie (2009), ApJ, 691, 382
• Formation of the Terrestrial Planets from a Narrow Annulus, Brad Hansen (2009), ApJ, in press
• Evidence for an Edge-On Disk around the Young Star MWC 778 from Infrared Imaging and Polarimetry, Marshall D. Perrin, William D. Vacca, & James R. Graham (2009), AJ, in press
• The Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems: The Search for and Characterization of Young Planets, Charles Beichman, Isabelle Baraffe, Christopher Crockett, et al. (2009), White paper for the Astro2010 Decadal Survey
• A Substantial Dust Disk Surrounding an Actively Accreting First-Ascent Giant Star, C. Melis, B. Zuckerman, I. Song, J. H. Rhee, S. Metchev (2009), ApJ, in press
• Infrared Signatures of Disrupted Minor Planets at White Dwarfs, J. Farihi, M. Jura, & B. Zuckerman (2009), ApJ, in press
• First High-Contrast Science with an Integral Field Spectrograph: the Sub-Stellar Companion to GQ Lup, M. McElwain, S. Metchev, J. Larkin, M. Barczys, C. Iserlohe, A. Krabbe, A. Quirrenbach, J. Weiss, & S. Wright (2007), ApJ, 656, 505

Former Graduate Students and Postdocs

• Ian Crossfield worked with Dr. Brad Hansen searching for thermal emission from hot, giant extrasolar planets.
• Christopher Crockett worked with Lisa Prato on a radial velocity survey of T Tauri stars.
• David Rodriguez worked with Ben Zuckerman in a search of nearby, low-mass stars at the epoch of terrestrial planet formation. He also searches for ultracool companions to white dwarfs. In addition, he explores the properties of disks around binaries in order to understand how planet formation can occur in binary star systems.
• Marshall Perrin studies the formation of solar systems around young stars. Using high-contrast imaging techniques such as coronagraphy and polarimetry to remove the glare of starlight, he obtains detailed images of faint protoplanetary disks. By combining these broad multiwavelength observations (covering from the optical to mid- infrared) with sophisticated computer models, he and his collaborators seek to understand the details of how small particles are assembled to create the diverse population of extrasolar planets.
• Steve Berukoff worked with Brad Hansen on improved, multiphase models of protoplanetary and protostellar disks, with emphasis on understanding detailed microphysics.
• Carl Melis searches for extrasolar planets and probes the dusty disks they form from to help us better understand the planet formation process. He also keeps an open eye for any interesting opportunities to help us better understand stellar formation processes and the demise of planetary systems.
• Michael McElwain (grad) worked with Profs. James Larkin and Ben Zuckerman to carry out high contrast observations around nearby young stars with the Keck/OSIRIS integral field spectrograph. He also studied the frequency of stars with dusty debris disks.
• Elise Furlan (postdoc) is a NASA postdoctoral fellow working on mid-infrared spectra of young stellar objects (protostars, T Tauri stars). She is interested in circumstellar disk evolution, how the primordial material is distributed and processed and eventually dissipated and built into planetary systems.
• Stanimir Metchev (postdoc) is a Spitzer postdoctoral fellow working on brown dwarfs and on high-contrast imaging of nearby young stars. He is interested in the properties of sub-stellar objects, and in the evolution of second-generation ("debris") dust around main-sequence stars.
• Dr. Travis Barman (postdoc) is interested in modelling illuminated atmospheres of planets, M dwarfs, and symbiotic stars. He is also interested in white dwarfs and cataclysmic variables.
• Christine Chen (grad) is currently a NRC Postdoctoral Fellow at JPL working with Dr. Mike Werner. Christine earned a PhD from UCLA in 2002, where she worked with Mike Jura, studying the dust and gas in circumstellar disks through high resolution mid infrared imaging and ultraviolet spectroscopy.
• Gaspard Duchene (postdoc) studied pre-main sequence binaries and circumstellar disks using various high-angular resolution, such as adaptive optics (at Keck, CFHT and ESO) and HST. His work with Prof. Andrea Ghez aims at estimating direct, dynamical Pre-Main Sequence stellar masses.
• Caer McCabe (grad) worked with Andrea Ghez in investigating proto-planetary disks in T Tauri binary systems through near and mid-infrared imaging with NICMOS, Keck and the IRTF.
• Chris McCarthy (grad) earned a PhD from UCLA in 2001, where he worked with Drs. Zuckerman and Becklin on a search for substellar companions to nearby young stars. The research established the existance of a " brown dwarf desert" at wide separations from the host stars (10's to 100's of AU). Currently, Dr. McCarthy has a postdoctoral fellowship at the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, where he works with Dr. Paul Butler on the search for extrasolar planets via precise stellar radial velocities.
• Peter Plavchan worked with Dr. Mike Jura to characterize the formation and frequency of planetary systems around M dwarfs. He also studied the near-infrared variability of various stellar systems.
• Lisa Prato's (postdoc) principal research, on binary star formation, included measuring dynamical mass ratios of pre-main-sequence spectroscopic binaries with NIRSPEC on Keck II, and characterizing the spectroscopic properties of resolved young binaries and their circumstellar disks. She worked with Dr. Ian McLean on the NIRSPEC Brown Dwarf Spectroscopic Survey.
• Michael Schwartz (grad) worked with Eric Becklin and Ben Zuckerman on an infrared survey for freely-floating superplanets and brown dwarfs in the Pleiades
• Inseok Song (postdoc) focused on dust debris stars (Vega like stars) and imaging debris disks in a wide range of electromagnetic wave (from submm to optical). He worked with Prof. Zuckerman to find some nearby (< 100pc) and young (< 100 Myr) stellar associations.
• Murry Silverstone studied the thermal and scattered light properties of circumstellar debris disks, and is searching for low mass stellar and sub-stellar companions to low mass main-sequence stars.
• Richard Webb (grad) worked with Prof. Zuckerman and Chris McCarthy on a search for protoplanetary disks around main sequence stars like Vega, Fomalhaut etc. using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. He is also involved in a search for new T-tauri star members of the TW Hydra association with the LRIS instrument on Keck.
• Russel White (grad) worked with Prof. Ghez in a search for binary T-Tauri systems through direct and speckle imaging with HST, Keck, and IRTF. He also studied different tracers of accretion activity from circumbinary and circumstellar disks onto the individual stars in the system.