Russel White

Assistant Professor

 

Research Areas

• Observational astrophysics, with an emphasis on high dispersion spectroscopy and high spatial resolution imaging techniques
• Star formation and early stellar evolution; binary stars; circumstellar accretion disks; clever tests of stellar evolutionary models
• Young brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets

Education

• B.S. Astronomy, The Ohio State University (1993)
• Ph.D. Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles (1999)

Employment

• Harlan J. Smith Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Texas in Austin (1999-2002)
• Postdoctoral Scholar, California Institute of Technology (2002-2005)
• Assistant Professor, The University of Alabama in Huntsville (2006-present)

Current Graduate Students

• Jeffrey Burchfield, Ph. D.

Representative Presentations and Papers

• "High Dispersion Optical Spectra of Nearby Stars Younger Than the Sun", White, R. J., Gabor, J. M. & Hillenbrand, L. A. 2007, AJ, 133, 2524
• "The Stellar Properties of Embedded Protostars", White, R. J., Greene, T. P., Doppmann, G., Kovey, K. & Hillenbrand, L. A. 2007, in Protostars and Planets V, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 117-132
• "The Formation of Brown Dwarfs: Observations", Luhman, K. L., Joergens, V., Lada, C., Muzerolle, J., Pascucci, I. & White, R. J., 2007, in Protostars and Planets V, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 443-457
• "Dynamical Mass Measurements of Pre-Main-Sequence Stars: Fundamental Tests of the Physics of Young Stars", Mathieu, R. D., Baraffe, I., Simon, M., Stassun, K. G. & White, R. J. 2007, in Protostars and Planets V, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 411-425
• "Multiplicity and Optical Excess Across the Substellar Boundary in Taurus", Kraus, A. L., White, R. J. & Hillenbrand, L. A. 2006, ApJ, 649, 306
• "Observations of T Tauri Disks at Sub-AU Radii: Implications for Magnetospheric Accretion and Planet Formation", Eisner, J. A., Hillenbrand, L. A., White, R. J., Akeson, R. L., Sargent, A. I.
• "A Long-Lived Accretion Disk Around a Lithium Depleted Binary T Tauri Star", White, R. J., & Hillenbrand, L. A. 2005, ApJ, 621L, 65
• "On the Evolutionary Status of Class I Stars and Herbig-Haro Energy Sources in Taurus-Auriga", White, R. J., & Hillenbrand, L. A. 2004, ApJ, 616, 998
• “Very Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs in Taurus-Auriga", White, R. J. & Basri, G. 2003, ApJ, 582, 1109
• “Observational Constraints on the Formation and Evolution of Binary Stars", White, R. J. & Ghez, A. M., 2001, ApJ, 556, 265
• “A Test of PMS Evolutionary Models Across the Stellar/Substellar Boundary Based on Spectra of the Young Quadruple GG Tau”, White, R. J., Ghez, A. M., Reid, I. N. and Schultz, G. 1999, ApJ, 520, 811

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