Research

Debris Disks and Planet/Disk Interactions

My main interests involve debris disks and how interactions with planets shape their morphologies. My graduate research has involved analyzing debris disk observations from the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) to better understand their geometric structure and surface brightness. Through these analyses, we can identify asymmetric features, and trace them back to possible perturbations from a planet companion. My most recent published research involves using n-body simulations, and shows how disk morphologies can be used constrain the potential mass and orbit of unseen planets in a perturbed disk system.

High Contrast Imaging of Debris Disks and Exoplanets

In order to characterize debris disks or exoplanets, we first need to spatially resolve them. This requires the efforts of high contrast imaging, which allows us to distinguish the relatively faint disk/planet emission from the star, as well as allows for the resolution needed to resolve hard to see disk substructures. This can be achieved using both ground-based AO instruments (such as GPI) and space-based instruments such as HST/STIS and JWST/NIRCam. Additionally, NIRCam has allowed us to reach greater planet mass sensitivities than ever before, making it possible to directly image sub-Jupiter mass planets for the first time. My current work involves resolving nearby, faint debris disks with STIS, as well as searching for nearby exoplanets with NIRCam.

First Author Publications

Crotts, K. A., Carter, A. L., Lawson, K., "Follow-Up Exploration of the TWA 7 Planet-Disk System with JWST NIRCam", 2025, ApJL, 987, L41, doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ade798
Crotts, K. A., Esposito, T. M., Matthews, B. C., "Reduction and Archiving of Multiwavelength, Polarized-intensity Debris-disk Observations with the Gemini Planet Imager", 2025, ApJS, 276, 14, doi: 10.3847/1538-4365/ad90a4
Crotts, K. A. & Matthews, B. C., "The Search for Disk Perturbing Planets Around the Asymmetrical Debris Disk System HD 111520 Using REBOUND", 2024, ApJ, 975, 136, doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad7b28

Crotts, K. A., Matthews, B. C., Duchêne, G., “A Uniform Analysis of Debris Disks with the Gemini Planet Imager I: An Empirical Search for Perturbations from Planetary Companions in Polarized Light Images”, 2023, ApJ, 961, 245, doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad0e69

Crotts, K. A., Draper, Z. H., Matthews, B. C., “A Multiwavelength Study of the Highly Asymmetrical Debris Disk Around HD 111520”, 2022, ApJ, 932, 23, doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac6c86
Crotts, K. A., Matthews, B. C., Esposito, T. M., “A Deep Polarimetric Study of the Asymmetrical Debris Disk HD 106906”, 2021, ApJ, 915, 58, doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/abff5c

Check out all my publications on NASA/ADS