Stars as Planet Hosts
Research Projects
Polluted White Dwarfs
Polluted White Dwarfs
Planets form from the same cloud of molecular gas and dust as their host stars. Confirming if planetary bodies acquire the same refractory element composition as their natal disk during formation and how efficiently volatile elements are incorporated into growing planets is key to linking the poorly constrained interior composition of rocky exoplanets to the observationally constrained composition of their host star. Such comparisons also afford insight into the planet formation process. We compare planetary composition with host star composition using observations of white dwarfs that have accreted planetary material with their wide binary main sequence companions as a reference for the composition of the natal molecular gas and dust.
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Searching for Planets in Extragalactic Environments
Searching for Planets in Extragalactic Environments
We are using high-resolution spectroscopic techniques to 1) search for stars that were born in other galaxies and have since been ingested into the Milky Way through galaxy mergers, and 2) monitor them to look for orbiting giant planets. This work allows us to extend the population studies that have been conducted on Milky Way stars into other alien environments, whilst probing the extreme limits of planet formation.