Dr. Geoffrey Bryden is an astronomer in the field of extrasolar planet formation. He has numerically modeled the interaction between young planets and their surrounding disks in order to study protoplanetary gap formation, orbital migration, and resonant capture - processes that have explained and in some cases predicted the known characteristics of extrasolar planets.

More recently his focus has been on the observation of debris disks around nearby stars. With new data from the Spitzer Space Telescope, the number of known debris disks around solar-type stars has more doubled, creating a large enough sample to look for trends in how the disk planetesimals form and evolve.

• B.A., Physics, Cornell University (1990)
• PhD, Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz (1999)

• Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • Scientist, Space and Astrophysical Plasmas (2004-present)

1. Bryden, G., Beichman, C., et al. (2006), "Spitzer/MIPS Limits on Asteroidal Dust in the Pulsar Planetary System PSR B1257+12," Astrophy. J., accepted
2. Bryden, G., Beichman, C., et al. (2006), "Frequency of Debris Disks around Solar-Type Stars: First Results from a Spitzer MIPS Survey," Astrophy. J., 636, 1098
3. Beichman, C., Bryden, G., et al. (2005), "An Excess Due to Small Grains around the Nearby K0 V Star HD 69830: Asteroid or Cometary Debris?" Astrophy. J., 626, 1061
4. Beichman, C., Bryden, G., et al. (2005), "Planets and Infrared Excesses: Preliminary Results from a Spitzer MIPS Survey of Solar-Type Stars", Astrophy. J., 622, 1160
5. Kley, W., Peitz, J., & Bryden, G. (2003) Evolution of Resonating Planets, Astronom. J., accepted
6. Bryden, G. (2001) Ejected Planets Near Young Stars, in "Young Stars Near Earth: Progress and Prospects", eds. R. Jayawardhana & T. Greene (San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific), 328
7. Bryden, G., Lin, D.N.C., & Ida, S. (2000) Protoplanetary Formation I: Neptune, Astrophys. J., 544, 481
8. Bryden, G., Rozyczka, M., Lin, D.N.C., & Bodenheimer, P. (2000) On the Interaction between Protoplanets and Protostellar Disks, Astrophys. J., 540, 1091
9. Ida, S., Bryden, G., Lin, D.N.C., & Tanaka, H. (2000) Orbital Migration of Neptune and the Orbital Distribution of Trans-Neptunian Objects, Astrophys. J., 534, 428
10. Lin, D.N.C., Papaloizou, J.C.B., Terquem, C., Bryden, G., & Ida, S. (1999) Orbital Evolution and Planet-Star Tidal Evolution, in "Protostars and Planets IV", eds. V. Mannings, A. Boss, & S.S. Russell, (Tucson: University of Arizona Press), 1111
11. Bryden, G., Chen, X., Lin, D.N.C., Nelson, R.P., & Papaloizou, J.C.B. (1999) Tidally Induced Gap Formation in Protostellar Disks: Gap Clearing and Suppression of Protoplanetary Growth, Astrophys. J., 514, 344