Prof. Jason Steffen receives NASA grant

Jason Steffen, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, will be a co-investigator on a $380,000 grant with Jack Lissauer of NASA Ames Research Center entitled Architecture of Kepler's Multiple Planet Systems.

The project will study data from the NASA Kepler space mission to characterize the orbital properties of the thousands of planets discovered by that mission. The expected results will be key to understanding the important processes of planet formation and dynamical evolution across a variety of planetary systems.

Prof. Zhaohuan Zhu receives NASA astrophysics theory program grant

Zhaohuan Zhu, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, received a $444,188 grant from the NASA ATP (astrophysics theory program) for Predicting Observational Signatures of Planet Formation in Realistic Models of Protoplanetary Disks .

Recent high angular resolution observations (e.g. ALMA, VLT) of protoplanetary disks have begun to reveal complicated structure (e.g. spiral arms, gaps, rings etc.). In principle such observations can provide constraints on disk dynamics, and for the first time reveal the physical processes which control the planet formation process. However, this requires realistic theoretical models of disk dynamics, including a proper treatment of MHD effects, dust growth, settling, and feedback, as well as accurate radiative transfer calculations that can generate synthetic images for comparison to data. The goal of this project is to compute such models. We will calculate the most realistic global numerical models of protoplanetary disks and disk-planet interaction to date, compute synthetic images of the models based on a self-consistent treatment of the dust dynamics in the disk, and compare these models to interpret existing data and to predict future observations. In particular, we will compare our models with observations from existing NASA space missions (e.g. Spitzer, Herschel), and ground based telescopes (e.g. ALMA, EVLA, VLT, Subaru, Gemini), and we will make predictions for future observations. The proposed first-principle calculations (including MHD effects, dust-gas dynamics, and radiative transfer) will address fundamental questions on protoplanetary disks and allow us to study planet formation processes in detail. The predictions from these simulations will not only be compared with observations (e.g. ALMA) directly, but also serve as a foundation for understanding planet formation and exoplanet properties for future space missions (e.g. JWST, WFIRST, TESS).

Dr. Zhu will hire a postdoc to be included in the research. The postdoc will work with Zhu and Jim Stone from Princeton University. The UNLV's supercomputer "Cherry Creek" will be used as will, NASA Pleiades, and Stampede at Texas Advanced Computing Center.

Prof. Rebecca Martin receives NASA Grant

Rebecca Martin, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has received a three-year, $297,116 grant from the NASA Exoplanets Research Program to study planet formation in binary star systems.

About half of observed exoplanets are estimated to be in binary star systems rather than around a single star like our Sun. Planet formation in binary star systems may be very different to planet formation around a single star since there are additional forces on the disc in which the planets form, and on the planets themselves. Martin will model the evolution of discs in binary systems and their interaction with planets that form. Their goal is to understand why many of the observed exoplanets have large eccentricities and large inclinations to the spin of their star. This is in contrast to the solar system in which the planets have low eccentricity and low orbital inclination.

With the money, Dr. Martin intends to hire a postdoc to be at UNLV and also have a graduate student work on the project.

Working with Dr. Martin is Steve Lubow from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.