New researcher at Stockholm Observatory: Alexis Brandeker

Credit: Alexis Brandeker / PPARC & David Hardy

On April 2, Alexis Brandeker started his position as research associate to study planet forming gas disks surrounding young stars.

Alexis Brandeker graduated in engineering physics at KTH in 1998 and defended his doctoral thesis titled "Young stars and circumstellar disks" at Stockholm Observatory in 2003. The last three years he has been a post-doc at the University of Toronto, Canada, during which he investigated how multiple young stars are, meaning how often they occur as double or tripple stars. His new appointment as a research associate at Stockholm Observatory is for four years and financed by the Swedish National Space Board.

His research interests are the properties of planet forming gas disks surrounding young stars.
- Perhaps the most interesting aspect is the lifetime of the disks, says Alexis Brandeker. Most of the stars form with large disks of gas and dust around them and it is out of this planets form. But in order for the planets to have a reasonable chance of forming, the disks have to survive long enough.
One goal is to find out how long disks survive. One tool for this will be the upcoming space observatory Herschel, a satellite with active Swedish participation.

For more information about Alexis and his research see Alexis' homepage.