Research

Astronomers have identified more than 500 planets outside of our own solar system (called extrasolar planets or exoplanets) orbiting nearby stars like our Sun in our own Galaxy. Many of the systems are completely unlike our own solar system though, and our improved understanding of how planets form has been greatly influenced by the new discoveries. Most of the differences between our own solar system and the known exoplanets are due to the fact that the ways that we find exoplanets are not perfect -- they're much, much better at finding massive planets like Jupiter that are closer to their host stars than Earth is to the Sun, and much, much worse at finding planets like Earth. Still, there is enormous diversity in the exoplanet population of our Galaxy, and a general theory of planet formation should explain them all.

I'm playing a small role in the effort to conceive that general theory of planet formation. I model the selection effects present in current sample of exoplanets, and use those models to compare the observations to theoretical models of planet formation. I use those comparisons to determine which model parameters produce the theoretical population that best matches the observed population. I also develop tools to better understand the stellar hosts of exoplanet systems, and I use that improved understanding to constrain the planet formation process. I work with with Doug Lin, Shigeru Ida, and Greg Laughlin.

To learn more, click here. My research has been featured in Science and elsewhere on the web here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Like all other upper middle-class galaxies, our own Milky Way Galaxy has been built-up through the acquisition of more stuff: more gas, more stars, and more dark matter. Some of the gas and the dark matter continuously stream into our own Galaxy from the space between galaxies -- this is not the case for the stars though, as stars can only form in galaxies. Now, most of the stars in our own Galaxy are natives that formed here; however, there is a population of stars that have compositions and orbits seemingly unlike the stars native to our own Galaxy. These stars potentially formed in smaller galaxies that our Galaxy has gravitational acquired and torn asunder over the past 10 billion years. At the same time, they might also be very atypical stars that are nevertheless native to the Milky Way. Either way, they're valuable finds that can provide insight into the formation of our Galaxy and into the characteristics of the universe billions of years ago in a way that no other population of stars can. Unfortunately, trying to find rare stars like these in our Galaxy is like trying to find needles in a haystack.

Even though these special stars are hard to find, there is hope. Certain special properties of the way that the orbits of stars change over time due to the mutual gravitational interactions between those stars can cause the special stars to stand out. Once they're identified as such, further study of those special stars can reveal a lot about the environments in which they formed.

Now, here's what I do: I find those special stars and study their properties. Ultimately, what I find out improves our understanding of the way that our Galaxy formed and the way that stars formed in the universe long ago. I work closely with Connie Rockosi and others in the SEGUE Collaboration.

Click here to read a press release about this research.