Yayaati Chachan is a postdoctoral scholar in Professor Jonathan Fortney‘s research group in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz. His work focuses on planets around other stars, how they form, and how their formation leaves an imprint on their atmospheres, interiors, and orbital architectures.
“Until three decades ago, we didn’t know if other stars had planets around them. Now we know that almost every star has a planetary system around it,” said Chachan. “This knowledge has been transformative both in the scientific realm and the public conscience. I want to figure out what the properties of planetary systems tell us about their formation.”
Chachan has known about UC Santa Cruz’s impressive reputation in Astronomy and Astrophysics since he was an undergraduate and felt that working with the university’s amazing faculty would enable him to gain insights into these distant worlds’ formation and evolution.
“I read seminal papers by Professor Jonathan Fortney and his student Eric Lopez, who are both well-known in the field, that were formative to my understanding of exoplanets,” said Chachan. “Later, I learned that many faculty members here do incredible work in the field of exoplanets. Working in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and having conversations with world-renowned faculty members every week, is very inspiring and empowering.”
Chachan found a collaborative ecosystem at UC Santa Cruz fostered by inter-departmental research, enabling him to draw on expertise from multiple scientific realms and global research networks to refine and enhance his findings.
“Exoplanets and astronomy fascinate me because we tap into different sub-fields, such as thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and radiative transfer, while developing explanations for observational phenomena,” said Chachan. “The field of exoplanets is very observation-rich and we are constantly keeping up to explain what we see.”
Chachan’s efforts to analyze exoplanet atmospheres contribute to a larger quest to answer questions that have captivated humanity for centuries. As technological advancements continue and as UC Santa Cruz expands its research partnerships, scholars like Chachan will be at the forefront of discoveries.
“My work on planetary interiors at UCSC focuses on things that are not visible to us, where all our inferences are often indirect. We cannot perform seismology on exoplanets as we can on Earth,” said Chachan. “We use the current bulk properties of planets, their evolution over billions of years, and hints from their atmospheres to piece together a picture of exoplanetary interiors and compositions.”
Chachan plans to conclude his time at UC Santa Cruz in September 2026. Until then, he will be on a quest to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos.