Hilke E. Schlichting Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow                                                                                         Department of Earth and Space Science University of California, Los Angeles                            595 Charles E. Young Drive, East Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 Phone: 310 206 3508, Office: 3687 E-mail: hilke{at}ucla.edu

   Planet & ExoPlanet Discussion Group

   Education:

    Research Interests:

My research interests span all aspects of planet formation theory, extrasolar planets and solar system dynamics. I am interested in the our solar system, since it is the only place where we can examine the outcome of planet formation in detail and it provides a wealth of information about planet formation processes that will remain unattainable for extrasolar systems. For example, I am interested in the Kuiper Belt, which it is an ideal laboratory to test planet formation theories, because it provides a snapshot of an early phase of planet formation that was erased else where in the solar system, where planet formation proceeded all the way to completion. I am very interested in extrasolar planets, because their diversity exemplifies the range of possible outcomes of planet formation. Extrasolar planets are therefore ideal for testing and challenging planet formation theories.

One of the projects that I am currently working on is concerned with studying small objects in the Kuiper belt using archival data taken by the Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) on board of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Sub-kilometer-sized Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) 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 KBOs we will be able to probe their collisional and dynamical evolution as well as their material properties. These small KBOs provide a link between our Kuiper Belt and the dust producing debris disks observed around other stars.

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:

• Self-consistent Size and Velocity Distributions of Collisional Cascades, Margaret Pan & Hilke E. Schlichting, ApJ, accepted

• The Last Stages of Terrestrial Planet Formation: Dynamical Friction & the Late Veneer, Hilke E. Schlichting,  Paul H. Warren, Quing-Zhu Yin 2011, ApJ, submitted
• Warm Saturns: On the Nature of Rings of Extrasolar Planets that Reside Inside the Ice Line, Hilke E. Schlichting & Philip Chang 2011, ApJ, 734, 117
• Runaway Growth During Planet Formation: Explaining the Size Distribution of Large Kuiper Belt Objects, Hilke E. Schlichting & R. Sari 2011, ApJ, 728, 68
• Using Kuiper Belt Binaries to Constrain Neptune’s Migration History, Ruth A. Murray-Clay & Hilke E. Schlichting 2011, ApJ, 730, 132
• 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

    Press Release:

• Hubble Finds Smallest Kuiper Belt Object Ever Seen, STScI News Release (December 16, 2009)

 

Last updated: Jan 5th 2012