CAREER: Origins of Structure in Planetary Systems

PI和她在加州大学圣巴巴拉的学生将进行一项全面的理论研究计划，这将使她能够预测哪些物理条件产生与我们自己相当的行星系统。最终，这将有助于识别可能存在生命的离群行星。与她的研究计划相结合，她将确定对物理感兴趣的西班牙裔学生，因为他们进入UCSB，并导致努力提高他们在物理专业的保留。为此，她将专门为代表性不足的少数民族学生开发一门新生课程，帮助他们发展一个群体，并在他们继续本科学习时建立一个辅导网络，本项目的具体目标是：（1）测试盘状湍流是否为核心设定了宽分离极限，通过计算湍流盘中卵石吸积的效率，检验巨行星是通过核吸积还是引力碎裂形成的，（3）对扰动的碎片盘进行动力学分析，以研究宽间隔行星群中分散的闯入者，（4）利用经典和共振柯伊伯带天体的组合动力学来约束外太阳系的动力学历史，以及（5）将这些研究的结果综合成行星系统结构的集合，这些结构可用于测试哪些物理参数决定特定系统的结构。

The PI and her students at the University of California Santa Barbara will carry out a comprehensive program of theoretical studies that will allow her to predict which physical conditions generate planetary systems comparable to our own. Ultimately, this will facilitate identification of outlier planets that could host life. Integrated with her research program, she will identify Hispanic students interested in physics as they enter UCSB and lead an effort to increase their retention in the physics major. To do this, she will develop a freshman course specifically designed for underrepresented minority students, help them develop a cohort and establish a mentoring network as they continue with their undergraduate studies, and provide them research opportunities.The specific goals of this project are to (1) test whether disk turbulence sets the wide separation limit for core-accretion formation of giant planets by calculating the efficiency of pebble accretion in turbulent disks, (2) test whether giant planets formed via core accretion or gravitational fragmentation, (3) perform dynamical analyses of disturbed debris disks to study scattered interlopers in the wide-separation planet population, (4) use the combined dynamics of classical and resonant Kuiper belt objects to constrain the outer solar system's dynamical history, and (5) synthesize the results of these studies into collections of planetary system architectures that can be used to test which physical parameters determine a particular system's structure.