Tim Hallatt

Astrophysicist

I am an astrophysicist at MIT. I focus on planet formation and the demographics of exoplanets. I am a data-driven theorist, leveraging information encoded in data to understand the underlying physical mechanisms sculpting the observations.

Research

Planet Formation in the Ancient Milky Way
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Exoplanet demographics shift between the two dominant stellar populations of the Milky Way. I explore how the formation environment of planets in the Galaxy has differed across cosmic time, and how that may manifest in the planet distribution around some of the oldest stars in the Milky Way. This work has been featured in the press!

Sculpting the sub-Saturn Period Distribution via Atmospheric Evaporation

The abundance of mid-sized planets drops at small orbital distances. I showed that this can be explained by these planets’ propensity to lose their puffy atmospheres closer in to their host stars. The theory predicts that such planets become less common around hotter stars, which has since been confirmed!

Explaining the Orbital Period Distribution of Gas Giants

Gas giant planet abundance grows rapidly with orbital period. I showed that this feature can be carved out if giant planets arrive at their final orbital locations via migration through their natal protoplanetary disks. Our theory predicts that the giant planet population grows more massive toward longer orbital periods.

The Galactic Dynamics of Interstellar Interlopers

Interstellar asteroids and comets pass through the solar system as they orbit the Galaxy, allowing us to study extrasolar bodies in exquisite detail. But can we understand where they may originate from, by bridging planetary and Galactic dynamics?

Planet Formation in the Ancient Milky WayNEW

Sculpting the sub-Saturn Period Distribution via Atmospheric Evaporation

Explaining the Orbital Period Distribution of Gas Giants

The Galactic Dynamics of Interstellar Interlopers

Planet Formation in the Ancient Milky Way
NEW