Research

I am a theoretical astrophysicist and my current interests focus on planets: both planets in our solar system and ones that orbit other stars. Past projects include: stellar pulsations, migration of hot Jupiters, interior of Jovian planets, planets in binary systems, circumstellar debris disks, Pluto-Charon system, primordial Kuiper belt, tidal dissipation in stars and planets, Kepler planets large and small, planetary dynamics, proto-planetary disks....  

My over-all goal to understand how planets come about, this includes studying how environmental effects come into play, what is the interior structure of planets, etc. This field is very exciting and new discoveries are made daily. Research in this area helps to shape our view on how we ourselves come about.

Past and Current Students and Postdocs

Graduate Students:

Bo Peng (2018, short project): single-multiple planets

Taylor Kutra (2018, short project, Phd): metallicity of planet hosts (paper in AJ); irradiation instability in proto-planetary disks

Miranda Herman (PhD, co-supervising): long period planets in Kepler, (paper in AJ)

Ari Silburt (2013, short project): inverting Kepler planet’s orbits (paper in AJ)

Lisa Esteves (2013, short project): unstable compact systems

Snezana Prodan: (2007, short project, joint with Norm Murray) planetary dynamics in binary systems

Andrew Shannon: (PhD student) the Pluto-Charon disk; exo- and solar Kuiper belts

Fernando Pena: (PhD student) internal dynamics of extra-solar jupiters

Rodrigo Fernandez: (2005, short project) metallic gas in beta Pic disk (ApJ)

Lawrence Mudryk: (2004, short project) stability of planets in binary systems (ApJ) 

Hilding Nielson: (2003, short project) 'weather' in pulsating white dwarfs

Undergraduate Students: 

Abhinav Jindal (2016): secular gravitational instability

Eric Shore (2016): in-situ formation of warm jupiters

Braden Howell (2016): hydro simulations of red giant winds

Stepan Fomichev (2015): gravitational instability of particle disks

Saif Charaniya (2014): colliding planets

Bonan Pu (2013): dynamics of compact planetary systems

Nikhil Mahajan (2012, 2013): origin of Kepler-11; Photoevaporation of planets

Mike Ramsahai (2006, joint with Norm Murray): Kozai mechanism in planet migration

Kyryl Zagorovsky (2005,2006): planet-dust interaction in debris disks; gas dynamics in debris disc

Gurtina Besla: (2004, faculty @ Arizona) spatial structure in dusty debris disks 

Jordan Ang: (2004, now graduate student @UofT), non-adiabatic oscillation of SdB stars  

Alice Wu: (2003) planetary dynamics

Nathan Leigh: (2003) accretion history of T Tauri stars

Postdocs:

Ed Thommes: joint with CITA, planetary migration and dynamics

Ji-wei Xie:  planetary dynamics and debris disks

Margaret Pan: rings and debris