Seminar: Exoplanet atmospheres with high-resolution spectroscopy: chemistry, isotopes, and dynamics

Astro Seminar: Exoplanet atmospheres with high-resolution spectroscopy: chemistry, isotopes, and dynamics

Postdoctoral Fellow. Yapeng Zhang (Caltech)

Abstract: Exoplanet atmospheres with imprints from their history open an important avenue to trace the origin and evolution of planets. With high-dispersion spectroscopy, we can resolve atomic and molecular spectral features into unique forests of lines that serve as fingerprints for identifying different species and probing structures and dynamics of exoplanet atmospheres. I will talk about high-resolution spectral characterization of atmospheres from wide-orbit super-Jovian exoplanets to close-in ultra-hot Jupiters, highlighting the discovery of minor isotopologues in exoplanets and brown dwarfs. These works add to the efforts to link observations of exoplanet atmospheres to planet formation and evolution processes.

Bio: Yapeng Zhang is a 51 Pegasi b postdoctoral fellow at Caltech. She did undergraduate studies at Nanjing University and obtained her PhD at Leiden University in the Netherlands in 2023. Her research explores various topics related to exoplanet atmospheres and planet formation, with particular interest in using high-resolution spectroscopy to probe the atmospheric properties of exoplanets.