David Phillips
Physicist, Smithonian Astrophysical Observatory, and QTC Collaborator
Ph.D. Physics, Harvard University, 1996
B.S. Physics, Caltech, 1988
David’s research interests center around: (i) Searches for planets around other stars in which he has developed instrumentation to improve searches for Earth-like exoplanets first by building “astro-combs”, laser frequency comb based wavelength calibrators for astrophysical spectrographs and then building a small solar telescope designed to observe the Sun as a Star and study the effects of stellar activity on the measured solar radial velcotiy; and (ii) searches for dark matter using novel detectors in which directional information about the potential dark matter interaction can be read out from a solid-state detector composed of diamond or other similar high-density or high-purity materials.
Fun Fact: David has visited Madagascar. Here, you can see lemurs climbing over him and eating out of his hands!
A paper on Milky Way Accelerometry via Millisecond Pulsar Timing has been posted on the arXiv.
A group paper on Detection Limits of Low-mass, Long-period Exoplanets Using Gaussian Processes Applied to HARPS-N Solar RVs has been posted on the arXiv.
A group paper on The spectral impact of magnetic activity on disc-integrated HARPS-N solar observations: exploring new activity indicators has been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Notable Publications