Yayaati Chachan

Yayaati’s interests include planetary atmospheres, planet formation, and protoplanetary disks. In particular, he is curious about how the evolution of dust and gas in disks relates to planet formation and sets the composition of planetary atmospheres. He uses both theoretical and observational tools to answer these questions. In the past, he has measured the transmission spectra of exoplanets using space telescopes, created a retrieval tool to infer the composition of planetary atmospheres, studied the connection between the interior and the atmosphere of small planets, and charted the evolution of dust in protoplanetary disks and its influence on the formation of giant planets and super-Earths. At McGill, he will continue studying how planets form, measuring the composition of exoplanetary atmospheres, and figuring out how these processes are interlinked.

Yayaati obtained his PhD in planetary science from Caltech where he worked with Heather Knutson (primary advisor) as well Dave Stevenson and Geoff Blake. He obtained his B.A. in Natural Sciences (Physics) and M.Sc in Astrophysics (Part III) at the University of Cambridge.