Philip Steven Muirhead
Experimental Astrophysics!
[philm at
astro.caltech.edu]
My
Papers on ADS
Google
Scholar

Vita:
2011-
Postdoctoral Scholar, Caltech
2011 PhD
Cornell University (NESSF Fellow, Shelley Award)
2005 BSc University of
Michigan (University Honors, Angell Scholar)
Research:
Small Stars with Small Planets (or White Dwarfs):
KOI-256
- Using gravitational lensing in an eclipsing post-common
envelope binary to measure accurate M dwarf/white dwarf
masses, radii and temperatures.
Here is a NASA
press release about this study with a great video by
Robert Hurt.
Kepler 42 (formerly KOI-961)
- A small star with 3 sub-Earth-sized planets!
Here is a news
article in Nature about this study.
Distilling
Nearby M-Dwarfs for Terrestrial Exoplanets - A new Keck-HIRES
Radial Velocity Program.
Uses new methods for measuring M
dwarf metallicities, developed by Bárbara
Rojas-Ayala
Here is a
talk I gave at the 2012 Keck Science Meeting about this
program.
Characterizing
the Cool KOIs - Identifying compelling Kepler
planet-candidates that orbit cool stars
(aka Cool KOIs)
with Katherine Hamren,
Everett
Schlawin, Bárbara
Rojas-Ayala, Kevin Covey
and James
Lloyd
Here's a talk I gave
about this work at the First Kepler
Science Conference, and a
news article in Science
Magazine.
Infrared
Instrumentation:
Mass-producing
efficient NIR spectrographs with the TripleSpec
Collaboration (Cornell/Caltech/UVA/Toronto)
Optical
interferometric imaging led by John
Monnier
Precise Radial Velocities:
LAEDI
- A technique to measure ultra-precise stellar radial
velocities with Gautam Vasisht (JPL) and Co
Project
Minerva - High-cadence radial velocity monitoring of nearby
Stars with John
Johnson and Co
TEDI
- Precision radial velocities in the near-infrared with Jerry
Edelstein, David
Erskine and James Lloyd