Circumstellar disks of planetary debris are now known or suspected to closely orbit
hundreds of white dwarf stars. To date, both data and theory support disks that are entirely …

The fates of planetary systems provide unassailable insights into their formation and
represent rich cross-disciplinary dynamical laboratories. Mounting observations of post-main …

Astronomers have discovered thousands of planets outside the Solar System, most of which
orbit stars that will eventually evolve into red giants and then into white dwarfs. During the …

Context. Heavy metals in the atmospheres of white dwarfs are thought in many cases to be
accreted from a circumstellar debris disk, which was formed by the tidal disruption of a rocky …

" The study of planet formation has a long history. The idea that the Solar System formed
from a rotating disk of gas and dust-the Nebula Hypothesis-dates back to the writings of …

The infrared excess around the white dwarf G29-38 can be explained by emission from an
opaque flat ring of dust with an inner radius of 0.14 R⊙ and an outer radius of less than 1 …

Most stars become white dwarfs after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel (the Sun will be
one such). Between one-quarter and one-half of white dwarfs have elements heavier than …

Evidence is now compelling that elements heavier than helium in many white dwarf
atmospheres have accumulated by accretion from orbiting rocky bodies, often larger than …

Infrared studies have revealed debris likely related to planet formation in orbit around∼ 30%
of youthful, intermediate mass, main-sequence stars. We present evidence, based on …

We report Keck telescope HIRES echelle observations of DA white dwarfs in a continuation
of an extensive search for metals. These spectra are supplemented with new JHK …