ADAM J. BURGASSER, Assistant
Professor of Physics
Email: ajb@mit.edu
Phone: (617) 452-5113
Fax: (617) 253-9798
Address: Building 37-664B
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics
& Space Research
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Building 37-664B
Cambridge, MA 02139
Related Links:
Adam Burgasser's
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Research Interests
Professor Adam Burgasser's research focuses on the observational
study of the lowest mass stars and brown dwarfs (stars of such low mass
that they do not fuse hydrogen in their cores). Over the past several
years, he has discovered and studied dozens of the coldest brown dwarfs known,
so-called "T dwarfs", which have atmospheres similar to giant planets in
the solar system. Through optical and infrared spectroscopic
investigations, Burgasser has investigated the primary chemical
constituents found in these cold atmospheres; defined a classification
scheme; and has identified diagnostics of temperature, surface gravity,
and chemical composition that he has used to determine fundamental
properties such as mass and age.
Professor Burgasser also studies the lowest luminosity "subdwarfs", stars
that appear to have a lower concentration of chemical elements (other than
hydrogen) as compared to the Sun and other nearby stars. These metal-poor
stars formed very early on the Galaxy's history, and are therefore useful
probes of ancient Galactic structure, star formation and chemical
enrichment. Burgasser focuses much of his effort on a class of
subdwarfs called "L subdwarfs", the coldest subdwarfs known, and which
likely includes the first brown dwarfs formed in the Galaxy.
Professor Burgasser also works on multiplicity statistics of brown dwarfs
as a means of understanding the formation of these objects, magnetic
activity of low mass stars as probed by hydrogen line and radio emission,
and Monte Carlo simulations of brown dwarf populations to as means of
determining the mass function (the number of stars born per unit mass) of
brown dwarfs in the Galaxy. Burgasser makes use of many of the
premier observational facilities in the world for his work, including the
Magellan Telescopes; and is currently working with Prof.
Robert Simcoe on the development of a new infrared spectrograph for this
facility which has received funding from the National Science Foundation.
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Biographical Sketch
A native of Buffalo, NY, Adam Burgasser received his B.S. in Physics
from the University of California, San Diego, in 1996, and his M.S. and
Ph.D. in Physics (with a special emphasis on Planetary Science) from the
California Institute of Technology in 2001. His thesis research on T
dwarfs was supervised by Prof. Michael Brown and Dr. J. Davy Kirkpatrick.
After working as a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of
California, Los Angeles, and then as a Spitzer Postdoctoral Fellow at the
American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Burgasser
joined the Physics faculty at MIT in July 2005.
A national springboard diving champion in 1996, Professor Burgasser was
named one of the NCAA Top 8 Scholar Athletes in 1997, and is currently a
faculty representative for MIT's Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving
Team.
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Selected Publications
Hubble
Space Telescope NICMOS Observations of T Dwarfs: Brown Dwarf Multiplicity
and New Probes of the L/T Transition 2006, Astrophys. J.
Supplement, 166, 585-612
Burgasser, AJ, Kirkpatrick, JD, Cruz, KL, Reid, IN, Leggett, SK, Liebert,
J, Burrows, A, & Brown, ME.
A
Method for Determining the Physical Properties of the Coldest Known Brown
Dwarfs 2006, Astrophys. J., 639, 1095-1113
Burgasser, AJ, Burrows, A, & Kirkpatrick, JD.
Quiescent
Radio Emission from Southern Late-Type M Dwarfs and a Spectacular Radio
Flare from the M8 Dwarf DENIS 1048-3956 2005, Astrophys. J.,
626, 486-497
Burgasser, AJ & Putman, ME.
T
Dwarfs and the Substellar Mass Function. I. Monte Carlo Simulations
2004, Astrophys. J. Supplement, 155, 191-207
Burgasser AJ.
The
First Substellar Subdwarf? Discovery of a Metal-poor L Dwarf with
Halo Kinematics 2003, Astrophys. J., 592, 1186.
Burgasser, AJ, Kirkpatrick, JD, Burrows, A, Liebert, J, Reid, IN,
Gizis, JE, McGovern, MR, Prato, L, & McLean, IS.
Evidence
of Cloud Disruption in the L/T Dwarf Transition 2002, Astrophys.
J. Letters, 571, L151.
Burgasser, AJ, Marley, MS, Ackerman, AS, Saumon, D, Lodders, K,
Dahn, CC, Harris, HC, & Kirkpatrick, JD.
The
Spectra of T Dwarfs. I. Near-Infrared Data and Spectral Classification
2002, Astrophys. J., 564, 421.
Burgasser, AJ, Kirkpatrick, JD, Brown, ME, Reid, IN, Burrows, A,
Liebert, J, Matthews, K, Gizis, JE, Dahn, CC, Monet, DG, Cutri,
RM, & Skrutskie, MF.
Discovery
of a Brown Dwarf Companion to Gliese 570ABC: A 2MASS T Dwarf Significantly
Cooler than Gliese 229B 2000, Astrophys. J. Letters,
531, L57.
Burgasser, AJ, Kirkpatrick, JD, Cutri, RM, McCallon, H, Kopan, G,
Gizis, JE, Liebert, J, Reid, IN, Brown, ME, Monet, DG, Dahn, CC,
Beichman, CA, & Skrutskie, MF.
Discovery
of Four Field Methane (T-Type) Dwarfs with the Two Micron All-Sky
Survey 1999, Astrophys. J. Letters, 522, L65.
Burgasser, AJ, Kirkpatrick, JD, Brown, ME, Reid, IN, Gizis, JE,
Dahn, CC, Monet, DG, Beichman, CA, Liebert, J, Cutri, RM, &
Skrutskie, MF.
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