Faculty | Richard H. Durisen

Professor, Ph.D.
Astronomy, Princeton University 1972

Contact Information:

Astronomy Department
Indiana University
Swain West 321
727 East Third Street
Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone: (812) 855-6921
Fax: (812) 855-8725
Email: durisen [at] astro.indiana.edu

Biographical Information:

Professor Durisen is currently the departmental director of graduate studies. He joined the IU Astronomy faculty in 1976. He received a B.S. in Physics from Fordham University in 1967 and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Princeton University in 1972. He held postdoctoral fellowships at U.C. Santa Cruz and NASA-Ames Research Center. Professor Durisen has had extended research leaves at NASA-Ames Research Center as an NRC Research Associate and at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics as Fulbright Fellow and an Alexander von Humboldt U.S. Senior Scientist Awardee. He typically teaches A100 (The Solar System), A103 (Search for Habitable Planets), A520 (The Interstellar Medium), and A550 (Stellar Interiors).

Research Interests:

Simulations of fluid and particle system dynamics applied to star and planet formation, the structure and stability of astrophysical disks, and planetary ring systems.

• Dr. Durisen's 3D Hydro Group
• Saturn's Rings and Moons
• Rings around the Stars

Teaching:

• A550 Stellar Interiors, Fall 2007
• A520 The Interstellar Medium, Spring 2007
• A103 Search for Habitable Planets, Fall 2005

Selected Publications:

• The Internal Energy for Molecular Hydrogen in Gravitationally Unstable Protoplanetary Disks
  Boley, A. C., Hartquist, T. W., Durisen, R. H., & Michael, S. 2007, ApJ, 656, L89.
• Numerical Viscosity and the Survival of Gas Giant Protoplanets in Disk Simulations
  Pickett, M. K., & Durisen, R. H. 2007, ApJ, 654, L155.
• The Thermal Regulation of Gravitational Instabilities in Protoplanetary Disks. III. Simulations with Radiative Cooling and Realistic Opacities
  Boley, A. C., Mejia, A. C., Durisen, R. H., Cai, K., Pickett, M. K., & D'Alessio, P. 2006, ApJ, 651, 517.
• Hydraulic/Shock Jumps in Protoplanetary Disks
  Boley, A. C., & Durisen, R. H. 2006, ApJ, 641, 534.
• The Effects of Metallicity and Grain Size on Gravitational Instabilities in Protoplanetary Disks
  Cai, K., Durisen, R. H., Michael, S., Boley, A. C., Mejia, A. C., Pickett, M. K., & D'Alessio, P. 2006, ApJ, 636, L149.
• The shocking properties of supersonic flows: Dependence of the thermal overstability on M, alpha, and Tc/T0
  Pittard, J. M., Dobson, M. S., Durisen, R. H., Dyson, J. E., Hartquist, T. W., & O'Brien, J. T. 2005, A&A, 438 11.
• Chondrule-forming Shock Fronts in the Solar Nebula: A Possible Unified Scenario for Planet and Chondrite Formation
  Boss, A. P., & Durisen, R. H. 2005, ApJ, 621, L137.
• A hybrid scenario for gas giant planet formation in rings
  Durisen, R. H., Cai, K., Mejia A. C., & Pickett, M. K. 2005, Icarus, 173, 417.
• The Thermal Regulation of Gravitational Instabilities in Protoplanetary Disks. II. Extended Simulations with Varied Cooling Rates
  Mejia, A. C., Durisen, R. H., Pickett, M. K., & Cai, K. 2005, ApJ, 619, 1098.
• f-Mode Secular Instabilities in Deleptonizing Fizzlers
  Imamura, J. N., & Durisen, R. H., 2004, ApJ, 616, 1095.
• Multi-Wavelength Observations of the Star Forming Region in L1616
  Alcala, J. M., Wachter, S. Sterzik, M. F., Durisen, R.H., Freyberg, M., Horad, D.W.& Cooksey, K., 2004, A&A, 416, 667.