Publications

Research Statement

My research is focused on the formation of structure in the Universe. I did my PhD work on the formation of galaxies, galaxy clusters and superclusters. More recently I started studying the formation of smaller things: planets. Along the way, my collaborators and I have considered a variety of other topics including accretion flows onto supermassive black holes, galaxy dynamics, hypervelocity stars and behavior of dark matter. Much of my work depends on parallel supercomputers to extract the science, and I am grateful to NASA for the generous allocation of compute cycles.

Research Keywords

  • Astrophysics, Astronomy, Planetary Science

Presentations

  • B.C.Bromley. "Charon's legacy? An impact origin of the small moons of Pluto & Charon". NASA New Horizon team. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 08/2020.
  • Dall'Asén, A. G. et al. "Analyzing the Thermal Metamorphism Process of Carbonaceous Chondrites Using Raman Spectroscopy", 51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, held 16-20 March, 2020 at The Woodlands, Texas. LPI Contribution No. 2326, 2020, id.2920. Conference Paper, Presented, 03/2020.
    https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020LPI....51.29...
  • Bromley, B.C., "Dynamical shake-up and the low mass of Mars", American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #49, id.508.07, Provo, UT. Contributed Talk, Presented, 10/2017.
    http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017DPS....4950807B
  • Bromley, B.C. "From disks to planets: a theoretical perspective." [DOI 10.5281/zenodo.58241] at the ESO conference on Resolving Planet Formation in the Era of ALMA and Extreme AO, Santiago, Chile. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 05/2016.
    http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/2016/Planet-Format...
  • Bromley, B.C. "The Revenge of Pluto and other stories from the outer Solar System," Department of Physics, Idaho State University. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/2015.
  • Bromley, B.C. "The Revenge of Pluto and other stories from the outer Solar System," College of Science, Science at Breakfast presentation to the SLC business community. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 02/2015.
    http://science.utah.edu/events/breakfast.php
  • Bromley, B.C. and Kenyon, S.J. "Satellite Formation around Pluto-Charon." American Astronomical Society/Division of Planetary Science, 45th Meeting, Denver, CO. Contributed Talk, Presented, 10/09/2013.
    http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013DPS....4530305B
  • Bromley, B. C. "The migration of Saturn's small moons and implications for planet formation theory" at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and the University of Colorado, Boulder. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 04/25/2013.
  • Bromley, B. C. "Binary Star Disruptions & the Growth of Massive Black Holes," at SnowPAC2013. Contributed Talk, Presented, 03/21/2013.
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68024270/SnowP...
  • Bromley, B. C., & Kenyon, S. 2013, "Brightening the Infrared Sky: Debris Disks and the Formation of Terrestrial Planets," American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 221, 325.01. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/09/2013.
    http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013AAS...22132501B
  • Dimas, S., et al. "Using Nanotechnology to Study Planet Formation," American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 221, 353.12. Poster, Presented, 01/09/2013.
    http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013AAS...22135312D
  • "The transit of Venus and the search for planets around distant stars," Public talk, College of Science, The UofU. Other, Presented, 06/04/2012.
    http://unews.utah.edu/news_releases/transit-of-ven...
  • “Simulating the Diversity of Planetary Systems,” The First Kepler Science Conference, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. Contributed Talk, Presented, 12/2011.
  • “The Evolution of Protoplanetary Disks and the Diversity of Giant Planets,” Extreme Solar Systems II, Jackson, WY (Sept). Contributed Talk, Presented, 09/2011.
    http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011ESS.....2.0801B
  • "Planet formation" Physics & Astronomy Colloquium, BYU, Provo, UT. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 03/2011.
  • Bromley, B. C., & Kenyon, S. J. 2010, "Numerical simulations of planet formation," American Physical Society 4C Meeting, Weber State, UT. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 10/2010.

Research Groups

  • Smashing Rocks, Other. 01/01/2011 - present.

Grants, Contracts & Research Gifts

  • Pluto's Small Satellite System: Formation and Dynamics. PI: Kenyon, S. J. Co-PI(s): Bromley, B. C.. NASA, 07/01/2023 - 06/30/2026. Total project budget to date: $122,000.00
  • The formation of Pluto's low mass satellites. PI: Kenyon, S.J. Co-PI(s): Bromley, B.C.. NASA, 01/15/2017 - 08/15/2022. Total project budget to date: $204,517.00
  • Stellar Echo Imaging of Exoplanets. PI: C. Mann. NASA, 02/01/2018 - 02/15/2021. Total project budget to date: $500,000.00
  • The Formation of the Outer Solar System. PI: Kenyon, S. J. Co-PI(s): Bromley, B. C.. NASA, 07/14/2011 - 07/13/2017. Total project budget to date: $212,000.00
  • Formation of Gas Giant Planets. PI: Kenyon, S. J. Co-PI(s): Bromley, B. C.. NASA, 01/21/2010 - 01/20/2013. Total project budget to date: $189,000.00
  • Keck Observation of HR 8799. PI: Currie, T. Co-PI(s): (Burrows, A., Bromley, B.C., Kenyon, S. J., Kuchner, M.). NASA (time allocation), 10/29/2012 - 11/02/2012. Total project budget to date: $0.00

Research/Scholarship Projects

  • Utah Planet Formation. PI: Bromley, B. C. Co-PI(s): Gerton, J., Ivans, I.. 06/2011 - 12/2011.
  • Planet Formation. PI: Kenyon, S. J. Co-PI(s): Bromley, B. C.. 01/2010 - present.

Research Equipment and Testing Expertise

  • Parallel supercomputing. C++ with MPI. ODE and Poisson solvers. Visualization.

Software Titles

  • Dust-as-a-solar-shield. Code to calculate the reduction in solar irradiance from dust between Earth and the Sun. Release Date: 02/2023. Inventors: Bromley, B.C., Khan, S.H., Kenyon, S.J. Distribution List: https://github.com/benjbromley/Dust-as-a-solar-shield .
  • Orchestra. Parallel Hybrid N-body--coagulation code for planet formation. Release Date: 12/2012. Inventors: Scott J. Kenyon Benjamin C. Bromley. Distribution List: [code description in press; distribution is currently limited.].

Geographical Regions of Interest

  • Antarctica
    and the outer solar system.