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Education:
Ph.D., Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 2009 B.A., M.S., Physics, University of Cambridge, 2004
Research Interests:
My research interests span all aspects of planet formation and solar system dynamics.
One of the projects that I am currently working on is concerned with studying small objects in the Kuiper belt using the Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) on board of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Sub-kilometer-sized Kuiper belt objects are too faint to be discovered in reflected light, but the signature of their occultations of background stars can be detected (Schlichting et al. 2009). By determining the abundance and spatial distribution of sub-kilometer-sized Kuiper belt objects we will be able to probe their collisional and dynamical evolution as well as their material properties.
In the past, I have worked on the formation of multiple systems in the Kuiper belt, on the origin of planetary spins and on the velocity evolution of planetesimals and protoplanets during different stages of planet formation.
Publications:
- A single sub-kilometre Kuiper belt object from a stellar occultation in archival data, Schlichting et al. 2009, Nature, 462, 895
- The Creation of Haumea's Collisional Family, Schlichting & Sari 2009, ApJ, 700, 1242
- The Ratio of Retrograde to Prograde Orbits: A Test for Kuiper Belt Binary Formation Theories, Schlichting & Sari 2008, ApJ, 686, 741
- Formation of Kuiper Belt Binaries, Schlichting & Sari 2008, ApJ, 673, 1218
- The Self-Similarity of Shear-dominated Viscous Stirring, Collins, Schlichting & Sari 2007, AJ, 133, 2389
- The Effect of Semi-collisional Accretion on Planetary Spins, Schlichting & Sari 2007, ApJ, 658, 593
- A study of a long water detector for cosmic-ray studies, Gebauer, Lorenz, Mirzoyan, Schlichting & Steinbügl 2004, NIM, A518, 198
Popular Media:
- Hubble Finds Smallest Kuiper Belt Object Ever Seen, STScI News Release (December 16, 2009)