Institute of Astronomy

Prof Mark Wyatt

E-mail: wyatt@ast.cam.ac.uk

Personal Homepage

Office: Hoyle H49
Office Tel: (01223) 337517
More Info (Internal)

Preprints
Publications

Research Themes: Star Formation and Exoplanets

Research Keywords: Dynamics, Infrared, Observations, Optical, Planets, Solar System, Sub-mm, Surveys, Theory

Research

The aim of my research is to understand how planetary systems form and evolve. It involves both theoretical and observational studies of extrasolar planetary systems, as well as of our own solar system. The main strength of my research is in the development of models of the physical and dynamical evolution of circumstellar material and their application to the interpretation of circumstellar disk observations. Past highlights of my work include linking clumps seen Vega’s dust disk to resonant trapping by an unseen Neptune-like planet in this system (Wyatt 2003), the discovery of a spatially resolved Kuiper Belt around the star eta Corvi (Wyatt et al. 2005), and modeling disk collisional evolution showing that the rare systems with hot dust are undergoing transient events, perhaps akin to the solar system’s period of Late Heavy Bombardment (Wyatt et al. 2007a), although the debris disks of most stars are evolving in quasi steady-state (Wyatt et al. 2007b). I wrote a review of debris disk evolution for ARAA (Wyatt 2008), which is a good introduction to this topic.

Selected papers

  • Resolving debris discs in the far-infrared: early highlights from the DEBRIS survey
  • Matthews B. C., Sibthorpe B., Kennedy G., Phillips N., Churcher L., Duchene G., Greaves J. S., Lestrade J.-F., Moro-Martin A., Wyatt M. C., Bastien P., Biggs A., Bouvier J., Butner H. M. Dent W. R. F., Di Francesco J., Eisloffel J., Graham J., Harvey P., Hauschildt P., Holland W. S., Horner J., Ibar E., Ivison R. J., Johnstone D., Kalas P., Kavelaars J., Rodriguez D., Udry S., van der Werf P., Wilner D., Zuckerman B., 2010, A&A, 518, L135.

    •  

  • Extra-solar Kuiper Belt dust disks
  • Moro-Martin A., Wyatt M. C., Malhotra R., Trilling D. E. 2008. In Kuiper Belt, eds. A. Barucci, H. Boehnhardt, D. Cruikshank and A. Morbidelli, (Tucson, Univ of Arizona Press), 465-480.

    •  

  • An Unbiased Survey of 500 Nearby Stars for Debris Disks: A JCMT Legacy Program
  • Matthews B. C., Greaves J. S., Holland W. S., Wyatt M. C., Barlow M. J., Bastien P., Beichman C. A., Biggs A., Butner H. M., Dent W. R. F., Di Francesco J., Dominik C., Fissel L., Friberg P., Gibb A. G., Halpbern M., Ivison R. J., Jayawardhana R., Jenness T., Johnstone D., Kavelaars J. J., Marshall J. L., Phillips N., Schieven G., Snellen I. A. G., Walker H. J., Ward-Thompson D., Weferling B., White G. J., Yates J., Zhu M., 2007, PASP, 119, 842.

    •  

Career

  • 2000-2005 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh
  • 2005-2008 Royal Society University Research Fellow, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge
  • 2006-2011 University Lecturer, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge
  • 2011-2016 Reader in Astrophysics, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge
  • 2015-present Fellow of Pembroke College
  • 2016-present Professor of Astrophysics, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge

Qualifications

  • 1994 B.A. Hons in Engineering, University of Cambridge
  • 1996 M.Sc. in Astrophysics, Queen Mary University of London
  • 1999 Ph.D. in Astronomy, University of Florida

Awards and Prizes

  • William Heron Scholar of Engineering, Peterhouse (1992, 1993, 1994)
  • Routh Prize for Engineering, Peterhouse (1994)
  • Morien Morgan Prize, Cambridge University (1994)
  • Royal Aeronautical Society Prize in Aeronautics, Cambridge University (1994)
  • Fulbright Scholarship (1997)
  • Grinter Fellowship, University of Florida (1997, 1998, 1999)
  • Nutter Dissertation Fellowship, University of Florida (1999)
Page last updated: 20 July 2018 at 14:59