Postdoctoral Fellowship: MPS-Ascend: Transiting brown dwarfs as the key to understanding substellar formation mechanisms

Theron Carmichael is awarded a Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (MPS-Ascend) to conduct a program of research and education at the University of Hawai’i, Manoa. He plans to study the population of transiting brown dwarfs, which are rare objects that serve as the bridge between planets and stars in the Milky Way galaxy. He will serve as a mentor in the Research Experience for Teachers (RET) and the Hawai’i Student/Teacher Astronomy Research (HI STAR) programs at Manoa to improve the participation of students from the Native Hawaiian community and other underrepresented backgrounds in astronomy research. Carmichael will take measurements of the masses, radii, and ages of newly discovered transiting brown dwarfs in order to gain a deeper understanding of their formation mechanisms and evolution. These measurements will be compared against substellar evolution models that aim to predict how brown dwarf masses and radii evolve over time. Through this work, Carmichael will explore the mass range at which brown dwarfs stop forming the way giant planets do and begin to form more like stars. He will additionally explore the effects of stellar irradiation on the radius evolution of transiting brown dwarfs. Carmichael plans to mentor and advise junior researchers using brown dwarf science as a rich learning environment for these young scientists to grow. He will use his past experience in mentorship roles to help these scientists identify, understand, and overcome the systemic barriers they may face as they become full-fledged researchers and future leaders in astronomy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.