You
have stumbled onto Jay Farihi's homepage... 
Incriminating information:
I have recently moved to the
Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge as a 2012 Ernest
Rutherford Fellow.
My
main research activity is digging up evidence of terrestrial planetary systems
at stellar corpses known as white dwarfs.
One might not expect to find the surviving planetary systems around dead
stars, but the universe is full of surprises.
In fact, it is likely we will learn more about extrasolar terrestrial
planets using white dwarfs than via any other method. This is because cool white dwarfs have pure
hydrogen and helium atmospheres, and those stars with rocky planetary systems
can become polluted by small yet detectable amounts of heavy elements, such as
metals. We can use this metal pollution
to measure the composition of the rocky planetary material, and even identify water.
I
continue to use the Spitzer Space
Telescope to analyze the rocky debris around white dwarfs; the current
picture is that they externally polluted with heavy elements from tidally
destroyed asteroids. The compositions we
have measured so far are similar to the material found in the inner Solar
System (i.e. like Earth!). Currently, we
estimate at least a few percent, and as many as 20-30% of all white dwarfs harbor terrestrial planetary system remnants. Relevant publications and press releases can
be found below.
I left Gemini Observatory on the big island of Hawaii in mid-2007, where among other things, I trained for and finished my first Marathon; a huge thanks to all my friends and family for their support.
Fond memories:
As a
graduate student, I worked with Eric Becklin &
Ben Zuckerman searching for low mass stellar and substellar companions to
nearby white dwarfs. The bulk of my thesis is published in an ApJ Supplement
Series paper. If
you want all the gory details (they are both plentiful and colorful), you can
find my thesis here:
http://whitedwarf.org/theses/farihi.pdf
The
central result of my thesis: a spectral type histogram of low mass companions to white dwarfs. The drop off in companion frequency is
clearly above the minimum mass for hydrogen burning, which corresponds to an
early L dwarf spectral type / temperature at typical white dwarf ages of one to
a few Gyr. Our sensitivity is off the chart. As with solar-type main sequence stars,
intermediate mass stars (the progenitors of white dwarfs) with brown dwarf
companions are rare.
Passions, obsessions, lust for knowledge:
The
ultimate fate of planetary systems
Origin
and evolution of low mass objects
The
local cool white dwarf population
Digging
in the stellar graveyard
I have
been very fortunate to have several of my own space-based research programs on
the Hubble + Spitzer Space Telescopes. Many are posted below with more on the way...
Opinions backed by evidence:
44) Evidence of Rocky Planetesimals Orbiting Two Hyades Stars: astro-ph | MNRAS | press | BBC
43)
Orbital and Evolutionary Constraints on the Planet Hosting Binary GJ 86 from
the Hubble Space Telescope: astro-ph | MNRAS
42)
The WIRED Survey III: An Infrared Excess around the Eclipsing Post-Common
Envelope Binary SDSS J030308.35+005443.7: astro-ph | ApJ
41)
Precision Astrometry of the Exoplanet Host Candidate GD 66: astro-ph | MNRAS
40)
The Chemical Diversity of Exoterrestrial Planetary Debris Around White Dwarfs: astro-ph | MNRAS | press
39)
Scars of Intense
Accretion Episodes at Metal-Rich White Dwarfs: astro-ph | MNRAS
38)
Gaseous Material
Orbiting the Polluted White Dwarf HE 1349-2305: astro-ph | ApJ
37)
The Origin of Circumstellar Features in the Spectra of Hot DA White Dwarfs: astro-ph | MNRAS
36) Constraints on the
Lifetimes of Disks Resulting from Tidally Destroyed Rocky Planetary Bodies: astro-ph | ApJ
35) A Trio of Metal-Rich Dust
and Gas Disks Found Orbiting Candidate White Dwarfs with K-Band Excess: astro-ph | MNRAS
34) An Extremely Luminous
Panchromatic Outburst from the Nucleus of a Distant Galaxy: astro-ph | Science | BBC
33) Evolutionary Constraints on
the Planet-Hosting Subgiant epsilon Reticulum from its White Dwarf
Companion: astro-ph |
MNRAS
32) Accretion of a
Terrestrial-Like Minor Planet by a White Dwarf: astro-ph | ApJ
31) The Magnetic and Metallic
Degenerate G77-50: astro-ph |
MNRAS
30) Possible Signs of Water and
Differentiation in a Rocky Exoplanetary Body: astro-ph | ApJL
29) White Dwarf - Red Dwarf
Systems Resolved with the Hubble Space
Telescope. II. Full Snapshot Survey Results: astro-ph | ApJS
28) A Detailed Model
Atmosphere Analysis of Cool White Dwarfs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: astro-ph | ApJS
27) Strengthening the Case for
Asteroidal Accretion: Evidence for Subtle and Diverse Disks at White Dwarfs: astro-ph | ApJ
26) Does GD 356 Have a
Terrestrial Planetary Companion?: astro-ph | MNRAS
25) Rocky Planetesimals as the
Origin of Metals in DZ Stars: astro-ph | MNRAS | press
24) IRTF Observations of White
Dwarfs with Possible Near-Infrared Excess: astro-ph | MNRAS
23) Deep Imaging Survey of
Young, Nearby Austral Stars. VLT / NACO Near-infrared Lyot-Coronographic
Observations: astro-ph | A&A
22) A Glimpse of the End of the
Dark Ages: The Gamma-Ray Burst of 23 April 2009 at Redshift 8.3: astro-ph | Nature | BBC
21) X-Ray and Infrared
Observations of Two Externally-Polluted White Dwarfs: astro-ph | ApJ | press
20)
PHL 5038: A Spatially Resolved White Dwarf - Brown Dwarf Binary: astro-ph | A&A
19)
Infrared Signatures of Disrupted Minor Planets at White Dwarfs: astro-ph | ApJ | press | BBC
18)
Six White Dwarfs with Circumstellar Silicates: astro-ph | AJ | press
17) Spitzer IRAC Observations of White
Dwarfs. II. Massive Planetary and Cold Brown Dwarf Companions to Young and Old
Degenerates: astro-ph | ApJ
16)
Near-Infrared Constraints on the Presence of Warm Dust at Metal-Rich Helium
Atmosphere White Dwarfs: astro-ph | AJ
15) Spitzer IRAC Observations of White
Dwarfs. I. Warm Dust at Metal-Rich Degenerates: astro-ph | ApJ
14) A
Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Study of the Accreting Magnetic White Dwarf SDSS
J121209.31+013627.7 and Its Substellar Companion: astro-ph | ApJ | press
13)
Externally Polluted White Dwarfs with Dust Disks: astro-ph | ApJ
12)
Infrared Emission from the Dusty Disk Orbiting GD 362, an Externally Polluted
White Dwarf: astro-ph | AJ | press
11)
The Nature of the Close Magnetic White Dwarf - Probable Brown Dwarf Binary
SDSSJ121209.31+013627.7: astro-ph | MNRAS
10) HST NICMOS Imaging of the Planetary-mass
Companion to the Young Brown Dwarf 2MASSW J1207334-393254: astro-ph | ApJ | press
9)
White Dwarf - Red Dwarf Systems Resolved with the Hubble Space Telescope. I. First Results: astro-ph | ApJ
8) Low-Luminosity Companions to White Dwarfs (thesis work): astro-ph | ApJS
7)
Mid-Infrared Observations of the White Dwarf - Brown Dwarf Binary GD 1400: astro-ph | AJ
6) A
Dusty Disk around GD 362, a White Dwarf with a Uniquely High Photospheric Metal
Abundance: astro-ph | ApJL | press
5)
SSSPM J1549-3544 Is Not a
White Dwarf: astro-ph | ApJL
4)
Cool versus Ultracool White Dwarfs: astro-ph | AJ
3) A
Possible Brown Dwarf Companion to the White Dwarf GD 1400: astro-ph | AJ
2)
Discovery of an Ultracool White Dwarf Companion: astro-ph | ApJ
1) Mid-Infrared
Observations of van Maanen 2: No Substellar
Companion: astro-ph | ApJL
Meme exchange:
Jay
Farihi
Ernest
Rutherford Fellow
Institute
for Astronomy
University
of Cambridge
Cambridge
CB3 0HA
United
Kingdom
Office:
+44 122 333 0896