Job Summary

The Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) at Caltech provides science and data management for astronomy missions, planning for future projects, and vital science archives. IPAC supports NASA, NSF and privately funded projects, including: Spitzer, WISE, NEOWISE, the Zwicky Transient Factory, and the US centers for Planck, Herschel and Euclid. IPAC is developing science user tools for the LSST project and is planning for WFIRST science center activities. IPAC operates the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA), the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), the NASA Exoplanet Archive, and the Keck Observatory Archive.

A full-time, one-year assignment for a Scientific Researcher to work with Dr. Davy Kirkpatrick on an Astrophysics Data Analysis Program (ADAP) project entitled "Mass Function Analysis of the Complete 20-pc Sample of Stars and Brown Dwarfs" will be available starting as early as February 2020.

Job Duties

The candidate will be tasked with (a) verifying that Dr. Kirkpatrick's list of 20-pc host objects is as complete as possible, and (b) placing mass, spectral type, and/or separation limits on companion searches around each of the ~4000 objects in the sample using publicly available NASA data sets. Work will involve characterizing the searched companion space using 2MASS, Kepler/K2, Spitzer, TESS, and WISE data sets. Additionally, in-depth analysis is needed of Keck spectroscopy and Hubble Space Telescope imaging data, which will be done in concert with Co-I, Dr. Chris Gelino. The successful candidate will be expected to provide results on an aggressive schedule and to write at least one paper summarizing companions found during the data mining exercise.

Basic Qualifications

• Requires PhD in Astronomy, Physics, or related discipline and 2 years of Postdoctoral Scholar experience
• In-depth knowledge of low-mass star and brown dwarf astrophysics as well as experience in the study of benchmark systems composed of a brown dwarf and a much better characterized host star
• Extensive experience in the interpretation of photometric and spectroscopic data sets
• Familiarity with standard reduction tools

Required Documents

• CV
• Cover Letter