Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Tim Pearce

I am a Stephen Hawking Fellow, specialising in the dynamics of planetary systems.

Much of my work involves 'debris discs', which are populations of asteroids, comets, dust, and dwarf planets, similar to the Asteroid Belt and Kuiper Belt in our Solar System. We see debris discs around other stars too. For a first introduction to debris discs, see my chapter in the undergraduate textbook Encyclopedia of Astrophysics: Pearce (2024).

We think many debris discs show signs of interacting with planets. I model planet-debris interactions, to interpret what debris discs teach us about the architectures and histories of planetary systems. Examples of my planet-debris work include Pearce et al. (2022a), Pearce & Wyatt (2014b) and Pearce & Wyatt (2015a).

I also work on 'hot exozodi', which is mysterious emission detected around many main-sequence stars. We think it arises from very small, very hot dust located very close to stars, but we don't understand where it comes from or how it survives. I produce dynamical models to explain this dust, partly to ensure that it can be mitigated in future missions to image Earth-like exoplanets. Examples of my hot-exozodi work include Pearce et al. (2020) and Pearce et al. (2022b).

My work is mainly theory, but I am also very involved in observations. I am active in several James Webb Space Telescope programmes to look for planets in debris-disc systems (including one as PI), to interpret what we learn from detections (or non-detections) of such planets. I am also very involved in hot-dust observations with VLTI/MATISSE, as well as the upcoming NOTT instrument.

Students

I am always interested in taking on students. Please contact me if you're interested.

Career path

I have an unusual career path. After a Master's degree at Durham and a PhD at Cambridge, I left academia and was selected to be an officer in the Royal Navy. There I specialised in engineering aboard nuclear submarines. I then became Lead Mathematical Developer at a UK-based software firm, before returning to academia in Dec 2019 as a postdoc in Jena, Germany. I joined Warwick in Nov 2023 as a Warwick Prize Fellow, and became a Stephen Hawking Fellow in May 2024.

I am always happy to discuss my previous experiences, and advise on academic vs. non-academic career paths.

Write to:

Tim Pearce,
Department of Physics,
University of Warwick,
Coventry CV4 7AL
UK
 

Contact details:

Office: F06 (Milburn House)
Website: tdpearce.uk