- Characterization of Late Type Stars (M dwarfs).

- Planetary Systems (Formation, characterization and dynamics).

- Exoplanet Detection in NIR.

M dwarfs are the most common stars around us. They are small, cool and, even when we are not able to see any of them only with our eyes, they compose the 70% of the stars in our Galaxy. They have been 'ignored' for a long time but now they are getting a lot of attention...Why? Well, since their discovery, we have known they are 'cool' but now we know that some of them host the less massive exoplanets detected to date,a.k.a. Super Earths!

M dwarfs are nice targets for the Radial Velocity (RV) or Doppler Method: a planet of a given mass will produce a larger stellar wobble (and a larger RV signature) around an M dwarf that around a sun-like star...why? they are less massive than a solar-type star, so the planet perturbs it more! ... But M dwarfs, with SEDs that peak in the near infrared, have been excluded from current RV surveys since they are limited to bright stars in the optical band.

My Ph.D. advisor, James P. Lloyd, is currently working, along with other very smart people, in a 'near infrared interferometric spectrometer' that will allow us to find planets around these low mass stars: T-EDI (TripleSpec Externally Dispersed Interferometer). If you want to know more about this awesome instrument click here.

So, what am I doing? ... I'm currently working on a way to figure out the metallicity (abundance of metals) of these stars. Host star metallicity is a determining factor in the abundance of planets. Above solar metallicity, the number of stars with planets and presence of multiple planets increases. M dwarfs planet hosts known to date have shown abundances below solar metallicity when measured with optical spectra, suggesting that M dwarfs have a planetary formation process that differs from F,G and K dwarfs. This can also be due to statistics, with only eight M dwarfs with planetary candidates known, and/or the lack of reliable abundances estimates for this type of stars. M dwarfs SEDs peak in the NIR, so why not try to get this information from the J, H and K bands?

More Soon!