238 citations · 4.4k across the 87 of their papers we have counts for
32 papers · 1 filter
Rapid Formation of Icy Super-Earths and the Cores of Gas Giant Planets
Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley
We describe a coagulation model that leads to the rapid formation of super-Earths and the cores of gas giant planets. Interaction of collision fragments with the gaseous disk is th…
The Anisotropic Spatial Distribution of Hypervelocity Stars
Warren R. Brown, Margaret J. Geller, Scott J. Kenyon +1
We study the distribution of angular positions and angular separations of unbound hypervelocity stars (HVSs). HVSs are spatially anisotropic at the 3-sigma level. The spatial aniso…
Variations on Debris Disks: Icy Planet Formation at 30-150 AU for 1-3 Solar Mass Main Sequence Stars
Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley
We describe calculations for the formation of icy planets and debris disks at 30-150 AU around 1-3 solar mass stars. Debris disk formation coincides with the formation of planetary…
Hypervelocity Stars: From the Galactic Center to the Halo
S. J. Kenyon, B. C. Bromley, M. J. Geller +1
Hypervelocity stars (HVS) traverse the Galaxy from the central black hole to the outer halo. We show that the Galactic potential within 200 pc acts as a high pass filter preventing…
The Rise and Fall of Debris Disks: MIPS Observations of h and chi Persei and the Evolution of Mid-IR Emission from Planet Formation
Thayne Currie, Scott Kenyon, Zoltan Balog +3
We describe Spitzer/MIPS observations of the double cluster, h and Persei, covering a 0.6 square-degree area surrounding the cores of both clusters. The data are combine…
Hypervelocity Stars III. The Space Density and Ejection History of Main Sequence Stars from the Galactic Center
Warren R. Brown, Margaret J. Geller, Scott J. Kenyon +2
We report the discovery of 3 new unbound hypervelocity stars (HVSs), stars traveling with such extreme velocities that dynamical ejection from a massive black hole (MBH) is their o…
Terrestrial Zone Debris Disk Candidates in h and chi Persei
Thayne Currie, Scott J. Kenyon, George Rieke +2
We analyze 8 sources with strong mid-infrared excesses in the 13 Myr-old double cluster h and chi Persei. New optical spectra and broadband SEDs (0.36-8 mu_m) are consistent with c…
Formation and Collisional Evolution of Kuiper Belt Objects
Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley, David P. O'Brien +1
This chapter summarizes analytic theory and numerical calculations for the formation and collisional evolution of KBOs at 20--150 AU. We describe the main predictions of a baseline…
Hypervelocity Stars II. The Bound Population
Warren R. Brown, Margaret J. Geller, Scott J. Kenyon +2
Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) are stars ejected completely out of the Milky Way by three-body interactions with the massive black hole in the Galactic center. We describe 643 new spec…
Planet formation around low mass stars: the moving snow line and super-Earths
Grant M. Kennedy, Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley
We develop a semi-analytic model for planet formation during the pre-main sequence contraction phase of a low mass star. During this evolution, the stellar magnetosphere maintains…
Hypervelocity Stars: Predicting the Spectrum of Ejection Velocities
Benjamin C. Bromley, Scott J. Kenyon, Margaret J. Geller +3
The disruption of binary stars by the tidal field of the black hole in the Galactic Center can produce the hypervelocity stars observed in the halo. We use numerical models to simu…
Prospects for Detection of Catastrophic Collisions in Debris Disks
Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley
We investigate the prospects for detecting dust from two body collisions during the late stages of planet formation at 1-150 AU. We develop an analytic model to describe the format…
Terrestrial Planet Formation I. The Transition from Oligarchic Growth to Chaotic Growth
Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley
We use a hybrid, multiannulus, n-body-coagulation code to investigate the growth of km-sized planetesimals at 0.4-2 AU around a solar-type star. After a short runaway growth phase,…
Stellar encounters as the origin of distant solar system objects in highly eccentric orbits
Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley
The discovery of Sedna places new constraints on the origin and evolution of our solar system. Here we investigate the possibility that a close encounter with another star produced…
The Size Distribution of Kuiper Belt Objects
Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley
We describe analytical and numerical collisional evolution calculations for the size distribution of icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt. For a wide range of bulk properties, initial mas…
Detecting the Dusty Debris of Terrestrial Planet Formation
Scott J Kenyon, Benjamin C Bromley
We use a multiannulus accretion code to investigate debris disks in the terrestrial zone, at 0.7-1.3 AU around a 1 solar mass star. Terrestrial planet formation produces a bright d…
Collisional Cascades in Planetesimal Disks II. Embedded Planets
Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley
We use a multiannulus planetesimal accretion code to investigate the growth of icy planets in the outer regions of a planetesimal disk. In a quiescent minimum mass solar nebula, ic…
Dusty Rings: Signposts of Recent Planet Formation
Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley
Many nearby stars are surrounded by a bright ring or disk of cold dust. Our calculations show that these disks and rings of dust are signposts of recent planet formation. Bright ri…
Collisional Cascades in Planetesimal Disks I. Stellar Flybys
Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley
We use a new multiannulus planetesimal accretion code to investigate the evolution of a planetesimal disk following a moderately close encounter with a passing star. The calculatio…
Polarimetric Imaging of the Massive Black Hole at the Galactic Center
Benjamin C. Bromley, Fulvio Melia, Siming Liu
The radio source Sgr A* in the Galactic center emits a polarized spectrum at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths that is strongly suggestive of relativistic disk accretion on…
Measuring the Black Hole Spin in Sgr A*
Fulvio Melia, Benjamin C. Bromley, Siming Liu +2
The polarized mm/sub-mm radiation from Sgr A* is apparently produced by a Keplerian structure whose peak emission occurs within several Schwarzschild radii (r_S=2GM/c^2) of the bla…
The Tully-Fisher Relation as a Measure of Luminosity Evolution: A Low Redshift Baseline for Evolving Galaxies
Elizabeth J. Barton, Margaret J. Geller, Benjamin C. Bromley +2
We use optical rotation curves to investigate the R-band Tully-Fisher properties of a sample of 90 spiral galaxies in close pairs. The galaxies follow the Tully-Fisher relation rem…
Gravitational Stirring in Planetary Debris Disks
Scott J. Kenyon, Benjamin C. Bromley
We describe gravitational stirring models of planetary debris disks using a new multi-annulus planetesimal evolution code. The current code includes gravitational stirring and dyna…
Is the cosmic microwave background really non-Gaussian?
Benjamin C. Bromley, Max Tegmark
Two recent papers have claimed detection of non-Gaussian features in the COBE DMR sky maps of the cosmic microwave background. We confirm these results, but argue that Gaussianity…