Biography

Eugene Chiang received his undergraduate degree in physics from MIT in 1995, and his PhD in astronomy from Caltech in 2000. He teaches a variety of classes in the Astronomy Department, ranging from introductory astrophysics for undergraduate majors, to fluid mechanics and radiative processes for graduate students, to graduate seminars on galactic and planetary dynamics. The most challenging and rewarding class he teaches is order-of-magnitude physics, in which the class tries to estimate any quantity under the sun to within a factor of 10.

Publications

 

• Optically Thin Core Accretion: How Planets Get Their Gas in Nearly Gas-Free Disks, Lee, E.J., Chiang, E., & Ferguson, J. MNRAS, 476, 2199 (2018)
• Secular Dynamics of an Exterior Test Particle: The Inverse Kozai Resonance and Other Eccentricity-Inclination Resonances, Benjamin R. Vinson & Eugene Chiang, MNRAS, 474, 4855 (2017)
• Stellar Winds and Dust Avalanches in the AU Mic Debris Disk, Chiang, Eugene & Fung, Jeffrey, ApJ, 848, 4 (2017)
• Multiple Disk Gaps and Rings Generated by a Single Super-Earth, Dong, R., Li, S., Chiang, E., & Li, H., ApJ, 843, 127 (2017)
• A Three-Dimensional View of Turbulence: Constraints on Turbulent Motions in the HD 163296 Protoplanetary Disk Using DCO+, Flaherty, K.M., Hughes, M.A., Rose, S.C. Simon, J.B., Qi, C., Andrews, S.M., Kospal, A., Wilner, D.J., Chiang, E., Armitage, P.J., Bai, X., ApJ, 843, 150 (2017)
• Magnetospheric Truncation, Tidal Inspiral, and the Creation of Short and Ultra-Short Period Planets, Eve J. Lee & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 842, 40 (2017)
• Save the Planet, Feed the Star: How Super-Earths Survive Migration and Drive Disk Accretion, Jeffrey Fung & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 839, 100 (2017)
• The Sizes and Depletions of the Dust and Gas Cavities in the Transitional Disk J160421.7-213028, Ruobing Dong, Nienke van der Marel, Jun Hashimoto, Eugene Chiang, et al. ApJ, 836, 201 (2017)
• Gap Opening in 3D: Single Planet Gaps, Jeffrey Fung & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 832, 105 (2016)
• A Primer for Unifying Debris Disk Morphologies, Eve J. Lee & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 827, 125 (2016)
• Breeding Super-Earths and Birthing Super-Puffs in Transitional Disks, Eve J. Lee & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 817, 90 (2016)
• Correlations Between Compositions and Orbits Established by the Giant Impact Era of Planet Formation, Rebekah I. Dawson, Eve J. Lee, & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 822, 54 (2016)
• How Spirals and Gaps Driven by Companions in Protoplanetary Disks Appear in Scattered Light at Arbitrary Viewing Angles, Ruobing Dong, Jeffrey Fung, & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 826, 75 (2016)
• Signatures of Gravitational Instability in Resolved Images of Protostellar Disks, Ruobing Dong, Eduard Vorobyov, Yaroslav Pavlyuchenkov, Eugene Chiang, & Hauyu Baobab Liu, ApJ, 823, 141 (2016)
• An M Dwarf Companion and its Induced Spiral Arms in the HD 100453 Protoplanetary Disk, Ruobing Dong, Zhaohuan Zhu, Jeffrey Fung, Roman Rafikov, Eugene Chiang, & Kevin Wagner, ApJL, 816, L12 (2016)
• Two Transiting Low Density Sub-Saturns from K2, Petigura, E.A., et al., ApJ, 818, 36 (2016)
• Dust Dynamics in 2D Gravito-Turbulent Disks, Shi, J.-M., Zhu, Z., Stone, J.M., & Chiang, E., MNRAS, 459, 982 (2016)
• Resolved Millimeter-Wavelength Observations of Debris Disks around Solar-type Stars, Steele, A., et al., ApJ, 816, 27 (2016)
• Weak Turbulence in the HD 163296 Protoplanetary Disk Revealed by ALMA CO Observations, Flaherty, K.M., Hughes, A.M., Rosenfeld, K.A., Andrews, S.M., Chiang, E., Simon, J.B., Kerzner, S., & Wilner, D.J., ApJ, 813, 99 (2015)
• To Cool Is To Accrete: Analytic Scalings for Nebular Accretion of Planetary Atmospheres, Eve J. Lee & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 811, 41 (2015)
• Spiral Arms in Gravitationally Unstable Protoplanetary Disks as Imaged in Scattered Light, Ruobing Dong, Cassandra Hall, Ken Rice, & Eugene Chiang, ApJL, 812, L32 (2015)
• Discovery and Spectroscopy of the Young Jovian Planet 51 Eri b with the Gemini Planet Imager, Macintosh, B., et al., Science, 350, 64 (2015)
• A Metallicity Recipe for Rocky Planets, Rebekah I. Dawson, Eugene Chiang, & Eve J. Lee, MNRAS, 453, 1471 (2015)
• Eccentric Jupiters via Disk-Planet Interactions, Paul C. Duffell & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 812, 94 (2015)
• Gemini Planet Imager Observations of the AU Microscopii Debris Disk: Asymmetries within One Arcsecond, Wang, Jason J., et al., ApJL, 811, L19 (2015)
• Beta Pictoris’ Inner Disk in Polarized Light and New Orbital Parameters for Beta Pictoris b, Millar-Blanchaer, Maxwell A., et al., ApJ, 811, 18 (2015)
• Fast Modes and Dusty Horseshoes in Transitional Disks, Tushar Mittal & Eugene Chiang, ApJ Letters, 798, L25 (2015)
• Make Super-Earths, Not Jupiters: Accreting Nebular Gas onto Solid Cores at 0.1 AU and Beyond, Eve J. Lee, Eugene Chiang, & Chris W. Ormel, ApJ, 797, 95 (2014)
• A Class of Warm Jupiters with Mutually Inclined, Apsidally Misaligned, Close Friends, Rebekah I. Dawson & Eugene Chiang, Science, 346, 212 (2014)
• Gravito-Turbulent Disks in 3D: Turbulent Velocities vs. Depth, Ji-Ming Shi & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 789, 34 (2014)
• Fast Radial Flows in Transition Disk Holes, Katherine A. Rosenfeld, Eugene Chiang, & Sean M. Andrews, ApJ, 782, 62 (2014)
• How Empty are Disk Gaps Opened By Giant Planets?, Jeffrey Fung, Ji-Ming Shi, & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 782, 88 (2014)
• Multiwavelength Observations of the Candidate Disintegrating Sub-Mercury KIC 12557548b, Croll, B., Rappaport, S., DeVore, J., Gilliland, R.L., Crepp, J.R., Howard, A.W., Star, K.M., Chiang, E., Levine, A.M., Jenkins, J.M., Albert, L., Bonomo, A.S., Fortney, J.J., & Isaacson, H., ApJ, 786, 100 (2014)
• The Minimum-Mass Extrasolar Nebula: In Situ Formation of Close-In Super-Earths, Eugene Chiang & Gregory Laughlin, MNRAS, 431, 3444-3455 (2013)
• Catastrophic Evaporation of Rocky Planets, Daniel Perez-Becker & Eugene Chiang, MNRAS, 433, 2294-2309 (2013)
• From Dust to Planetesimals: Criteria for Gravitational Instability of Small Particles in Gas, Ji-Ming Shi & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 764, 20 (2013)
• Millimeter Emission Structure in the First ALMA Image of the AU Mic Debris Disk, MacGregor, Meredith A., et al., ApJ Letters, vol. 762, L21 (2013)
• Possible Disintegrating Short-Period Super-Mercury Orbiting KIC 12557548, Saul Rappaport, Alan Levine, Eugene Chiang, Ileyk El Mellah, Jon Jenkins, B. Kalomeni, Edwin S. Kite, M. Kotson, Lorne Nelson, L. Rousseau-Nepton, & K. Tran, ApJ, vol. 752:1 13pp (2012)
• Colliding Planetary and Stellar Winds: Charge Exchange and Transit Spectroscopy in Neutral Hydrogen, Pascal Tremblin & Eugene Chiang, MNRAS, 428, 2565-2576 (2013)
• Stochastic Flights of Propellers, Margaret Pan, Hanno Rein, Eugene Chiang, & Steven N. Evans, MNRAS, 427, 2788-2796 (2012)
• Care and Feeding of Frogs, Margaret Pan & Eugene Chiang, AJ, vol. 143:9 6pp (2012)
• The Propeller and the Frog, Margaret Pan & Eugene Chiang, ApJ Letters, vol. 722, L178-L182 (2010)
• Surface Layer Accretion in Conventional and Transitional Disks Driven by Far-Ultraviolet Ionization, Daniel Perez-Becker & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, vol. 735:8 13pp (2011)
• Surface Layer Accretion in Transitional and Conventional Disks: From Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons to Planets, Daniel Perez-Becker & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, vol. 727:2 20pp (2011)
• Confirming the Primarily Smooth Structure of the Vega Debris Disk at Millimeter Wavelengths, A. Meredith Hughes, David J. Wilner, Brian Mason, John M. Carpenter, Richard Plambeck, Hsin-Fang Chiang, Sean M. Andrews, Jonathan P. Williams, Antonio Hales, Kate Su, Eugene Chiang, Simon Dicker, Phil Korngut, & Mark Devlin, ApJ, vol. 750:82 9pp (2012)
• Forming Planetesimals by Gravitational Instability. I. The Role of the Richardson Number in Triggering the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability, Aaron T. Lee, Eugene Chiang, Xylar Asay-Davis & Joseph Barranco, ApJ, vol. 718, 1367-1377 (2010)
• Forming Planetesimals by Gravitational Instability. II. How Dust Settles to its Marginally Stable State, Aaron T. Lee, Eugene Chiang, Xylar Asay-Davis & Joseph Barranco, ApJ, vol. 725, 1938-1954 (2010)
• Forming Planetesimals in Solar and Extrasolar Nebulae, E. Chiang & A. Youdin, Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Science, vol. 38, 493-522 (2010)
• Hubble Space Telescope Optical Imaging of the Eroding Debris Disk HD 61005, H. L. Maness, et al., ApJ, vol. 707, 1098-1114 (2009)
• Optical Images of an Exosolar Planet 25 Light Years from Earth, P. Kalas, J. R. Graham, E. Chiang, M. Fitzgerald, M. Clampin, E. Kite, K. Stapelfeldt, C. Marois, & J. Krist, Science, vol. 302, no. 5906, 1345-1348 (2008)
• Fomalhaut’s Debris Disk and Planet: Constraining the Mass of Fomalhaut b From Disk Morphology, E. Chiang, E. Kite, P. Kalas, J. R. Graham, & M. Clampin, ApJ, 693, 734-749 (2009)
• Atmospheric Escape from Hot Jupiters, R. A. Murray-Clay, E. I. Chiang, & N. Murray, ApJ, 693, 23-42 (2009)
• The Warped Plane of the Classical Kuiper Belt, E. Chiang & H. Choi, AJ, 136, 350-357 (2008)
• Vertical Shearing Instabilities in Radially Shearing Disks: The Dustiest Layers of the Protoplanetary Nebula, E. Chiang, ApJ, 675, 1549-1558 (2008)
• High Albedos of Low Inclination Classical Kuiper Belt Objects, M.J. Brucker, W.M. Grundy, J.A. Stansberry, J.R. Spencer, S.S. Sheppard, E.I. Chiang, & M.W. Buie, Icarus, 201, 284-294 (2009)
• Binaries in the Kuiper Belt, K. S. Noll, W.M. Grundy, E.I. Chiang, J.-L. Margot, & S.D. Kern, The Solar System Beyond Neptune, eds. Barucci, Boehnhardt, Cruikshank, & Morbidelli, 345-363 (2008)
• Inside-Out Evacuation of Transitional Protoplanetary Disks by the Magneto-Rotational Instability, E. Chiang & R. Murray-Clay, Nature Physics, 3, 604-608 (2007)
• The Origin of the Young Stars in the Nucleus of M31, P. Chang, R. Murray-Clay, E. Chiang & E. Quataert, ApJ, 668, 236-244 (2007)
• The Formation of Ice Giants in a Packed Oligarchy: Instability and Aftermath, E. B. Ford & E. I. Chiang, ApJ, 661, 602-615 (2007)
• Spectrally Dispersed K-Band Interferometric Observations of Herbig Ae/Be Sources: Inner Disk Temperature Profiles, J. A. Eisner, E. I. Chiang, B. F. Lane, & R. L. Akeson, ApJ, 657, 347-358 (2007)
• Collisional Particle Disks, Y. Lithwick & E. Chiang, ApJ, 656, 524-533 (2007)
• A Brief History of Trans-Neptunian Space, E. Chiang, Y. Lithwick, R. Murray-Clay, M. Buie, W. Grundy & M. Holman, review chapter for Protostars and Planets V, eds. B. Reipurth, D. Jewitt, & K. Keil, University of Arizona Press, 895-909 (2007)
• Brownian Motion in Planetary Migration, R. A. Murray-Clay & E. I. Chiang, ApJ, 651, 1194-1208 (2006)
• Dust Dynamics, Surface Brightness Profiles, and Thermal Emission Spectra of Debris Disks: The Case of AU Mic, L. E. Strubbe & E. I. Chiang, ApJ, 648, 652-665 (2006)
• Spatially Resolving the Inner Disk of TW Hya, J. A. Eisner, E. I. Chiang & L. A. Hillenbrand, ApJL, 637, 133-136 (2006)
• On the Location of the Snow Line in a Protoplanetary Disk, M. Lecar, M. Podolak, D. Sasselov & E. Chiang, ApJ, 640, 1115-1118 (2006)
• Neptune Trojans as a Testbed for Planet Formation, E. I. Chiang & Y. Lithwick, ApJ, 628, 520-532 (2005)
• A Signature of Planetary Migration: The Origin of Asymmetric Capture in the 2:1 Resonance, Ruth A. Murray-Clay & Eugene I. Chiang, ApJ, 619, 623-638 (2005)
• The Deep Ecliptic Survey: A Search for Kuiper Belt Objects and Centaurs. II. Dynamical Classification, the Kuiper-Belt Plane, and the Core Population, Elliot, J.L., Kern, S.D., Clancy, K.B., Gulbis, A.A.S., Millis, R.L., Buie, M.W., Wasserman, L.H., Chiang, E.I., Jordan, A.B., Trilling, D.E., & Meech, K.J., AJ, 129, 1117-1162 (2005)
• The Circumbinary Ring of KH 15D, E. I. Chiang & R. A. Murray-Clay, ApJ, 607, 913-920 (2004)
• Particle Pile-ups and Planetesimal Formation, A. N. Youdin & E. I. Chiang, ApJ, 601, 1109-1119 (2004)
• Three-Dimensional Dynamics of Narrow Planetary Rings, E. I. Chiang & C. J. Culter, ApJ, 599, 675-685 (2004)
• The Dynamic Neptunian Ring Arcs, I. de Pater, S. Gibbard, E. Chiang, H. Hammel, B. Macintosh, F. Marchis, S. Martin, H. Roe, & M. Showalter, Icarus, 174, 263-272 (2005)
• Dust in Protoplanetary Disks, E. I. Chiang, invited review for ASP Conference Series: Astrophysics of Dust, eds. G. Clayton, B. Draine, & A. Witt (2004)
• Resonant and Secular Families of the Kuiper Belt , E. I. Chiang, J.R. Lovering, R. L. Millis, M. W. Buie, L. H. Wasserman, & K. J. Meech, Earth, Moon, & Planets, as part of First Decadal Review of the Kuiper Belt special issue, 92, 49-62 (2003)
• Resonance Occupation in the Kuiper Belt: Case Examples of the 5:2 and Trojan Resonances, E. I. Chiang, A. B. Jordan, R. L. Millis, M. W. Buie, L. H. Wasserman, J. L. Elliot, S. D. Kern, D. E. Trilling, K. J. Meech, & R. M. Wagner, AJ, 126, 430-443 (2003)
• Excitation of Orbital Eccentricities by Repeated Resonance Crossings: Requirements, E. I. Chiang, ApJ, 584, 465-471 (2003)
• On the Plutinos and Twotinos of the Kuiper Belt, E. I. Chiang & A. B. Jordan, AJ, 124, 3430-3444 (2002)
• Upsilon Andromedae: A Rosetta Stone in Planetary Dynamics, E. I. Chiang, contributed article to ASP Conference Series: Scientific Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Planets, eds. D. Deming & S. Seager
• A Collisional Family in the Classical Kuiper Belt, E. I. Chiang, ApJ Letters, 573, L65-L68 (2002)
• Eccentricity Excitation and Apsidal Resonance Capture in the Planetary System Upsilon Andromedae, E. I. Chiang & N. Murray, ApJ, 576, 473-477 (2002)
• Chondrules and Nebular Shocks, E. I. Chiang, Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 37, 2-3 (2002)
• Excitation of Orbital Eccentricities of Extrasolar Planets by Repeated Resonance Crossings, E. I. Chiang, D. Fischer, & E. Thommes, ApJ Letters, 564, L105-L109 (2002)
• Infrared Views of the TW Hya Disk, A. J. Weinberger, E. E. Becklin, G. Schneider, E. I. Chiang, P. J. Lowrance, M. Silverstone, B. Zuckerman, D. Hines, & B. A. Smith, ApJ, 566, 409-418 (2002)
• ISO LWS Spectra of T Tauri and Herbig AeBe Stars, M.J. Creech-Eakman, E.I. Chiang, R.M.K. Joung, G.A. Blake, & E.F. van Dishoeck, A & A, 385, 546-562 (2002)
• Apsidal Alignment in Upsilon Andromedae , E. I. Chiang, S. Tabachnik, & S. Tremaine, AJ, 122, 1607-1615 (2001)
• Spectral Energy Distributions of Passive T Tauri and Herbig Ae Disks: Grain Mineralogy, Parameter Dependences, and Comparison with ISO LWS Observations, E. I. Chiang, M.K. Joung, M.J. Creech-Eakman, C. Qi, J. Kessler, G.A. Blake, & E.F. van Dishoeck, ApJ, 547, 1077-1089 (2001)
• Apse Alignment of Narrow Eccentric Planetary Rings , E. I. Chiang & P. Goldreich, ApJ, 540, 1084-1090 (2000)
• Angular Momentum Transport in Fluid and Particle Disks , E. Quataert & E. I. Chiang, ApJ, 543, 432-437 (2000)
• Keck Pencil-Beam Survey for Faint Kuiper Belt Objects , E. I. Chiang & M. E. Brown, AJ, 118, 1411-1422 (1999).
• Spectral Energy Distributions of Passive T Tauri Disks: Inclination , E. I. Chiang & P. Goldreich, ApJ, 519, 279-284 (1999).
• Spectral Energy Distributions of T Tauri Stars with Passive Circumstellar Disks , E.I. Chiang & P. Goldreich, ApJ, 490, 368-376 (1997).
• Time-Dependent Calculations of Ionization Nebulae Surrounding Supersoft X-Ray Sources, E. Chiang & S. Rappaport, ApJ, 469, 255-271 (1996).
• Ionization Nebulae Surrounding Supersoft X-Ray Sources, S. Rappaport, E. Chiang, T. Kallman & R. Malina, ApJ, 431, 237-246 (1994).
• A 3.6 cm Radio Survey of Low-Mass, Weak-Line T Tauri Stars in Taurus-Auriga, Eugene Chiang, R.B. Phillips, & C.J. Lonsdale, AJ, 111, 355-364 (1996).
• On the Li and Be Tests for Brown Dwarfs, L.A. Nelson, S. Rappaport, & E. Chiang, ApJ, 413, 364-367 (1993).
• Time-Domain Holographic Image Storage, X.A. Shen, E. Chiang, & R. Kachru, Optics Letters, 19, 1246-1248 (1994).