Research

KELT-9 b, the hottest known planet (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Transmission spectra of KELT-9 b (Pai Asnodkar et al. 2022)

Ultra-hot Jupiter atmospheres

I am currently working with Professor Ji Wang on observationally constraining atmospheric dynamics on ultra-hot Jupiters (\(T_{eq} \gtrsim 2200\) K) . Due to their close proximity to their host stars (\(P \lesssim 3\) days), these planets experience very intense stellar irradiation which drives global winds on observable scales. We probe these wind velocities using transmission spectroscopy. As a transiting planet passes in front of its host star along our line-of-sight, starlight passes through the planet's atmosphere and is absorbed at certain wavelengths that correspond to different species, e.g. atomic and ionized metal species in the optical, present in these extreme atmospheres. The Doppler signature of the planet's atmospheric absorption signature reveals the overall orbital motion of the planet as well as an additional effect from atmospheric winds, such as day-to-nightside winds, equatorial jets, or even escaping material. Atmospheric dynamics plays a critical role in determing the energy budget, compositional/thermal gradient, and evolution of these highly irradiated planets. Planets I've studies so far include KELT-9 b (see left), KELT-20 b, and WASP-12 b.

Paper 1 Paper 2

The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

DAFN setup (Wang & Jurgenson 2020)

Dual-aperture fiber nuller

I am working with Professor Ji Wang and OSU's Imaging Sciences Lab towards developing a dual-aperture fiber nuller (DAFN) testbed as a technology to bridge the gap in giant exoplanet characterization between hot Jupiters around ~0.1 AU and cold Jupiters beyond 10 AU. Such an instrument splits the source light into two beams that are offset in phase by π before they are allowed to interfere and couple into a single mode fiber. In this way, the on-axis light (starlight) is “nulled” while off-axis light (planet light) is transmitted to a high-resolution spectrograph to further distinguish the planet’s atmospheric signature from the host star’s light. This design harnesses interferometry rather than increasing aperture size to cost-effectively improve angular resolution. We aim to deploy the DAFN concept onto preexisting interferometric frameworks such as the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer. Our testbed will benefit upcoming prospective exoplanet direct imaging missions, i.e. HabEx and LUVOIR, and will be synergistic with the proposed LIFE and LISA interferometric missions.