Department of Astronomy

Professor Petrovich's research centers on the formation and evolution of planetary systems by their dynamical evolution from their birth in protoplanetary disks to their long-term fates. His work is mostly theoretical and makes use of numerical simulations (hydrodynamic and N-body) taking advantage of IU's high-performance computing facilities, as well as (semi-)analytical calculations. The predictions from his models are contrasted with observed properties from exoplanet systems and dust/gas images of protoplanetary disks in order to understand what physical processes play a major role in the assembly history of planetary systems in our Galaxy.

Professor Cristobal Petrovich joined the IU Astronomy faculty in 2024. He received a Ph.D. in Astrophysical sciences from Princeton University in 2015. Professor Petrovich held postdoctoral positions at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) as a CITA fellow and Gruber Foundation fellow, and as a Bok fellow at the University of Arizona. He was an assistant professor at the Institute of Astrophysics at Universidad Catolica in Chile before coming to IU.

The influence of cold Jupiters in the formation of close-in planets. I. panetesimal transport, Best, Marcy; Sefilian, Antranik, A.; Petrovich, Cristobal arXiv, 2304, 2045.

The Chaotic History of the Retrograde Multi-planet System in K2-290A Driven by Distant Stars, Best, Sergio; Petrovich, Cristobal ApJL, 925, L5.

A Disk-driven Resonance as the Origin of High Inclinations of Close-in Planets, Petrovich, Cristobal; Muñoz, Diego J.; Kratter, Kaitlin, M.; Malhotra, Renu ApJL, 902, L5.

Prospects from TESS and Gaia to Constrain the Flatness of Planetary Systems, Espinoza-Retamal, Juan I.; Zhu, Wei; Petrovich, Cristobal ApJ, 166, 231.

A Gap-sharing Planet Pair Shaping the Crescent in HD 163296: A Disk Sculpted by a Resonant Chain, Garrido-Deutelmoser, Juan; Petrovich, Cristobal; Charalambous, Carolina and 2 more ApJL, 945, L37

View a complete list from the Astrophysics Data System