October 3, 2025

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Speaker: Xinting Yu, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Texas San Antonio

Host: Romy Hanna

Title: From Titan to Disks: Laboratory Insights into the Physical Properties and Evolution of Planet-Forming Organics

Abstract: This talk will follow my research journey from studying Titan’s atmosphere to investigating the origins of organic matter in protoplanetary disks. During my PhD, I developed nanoscale laboratory techniques to characterize the material properties of Titan’s organic aerosols. These techniques are now being extended by my group to study organics relevant to the early Solar System and planet formation.

We analyze sub-milligram quantities of organic matter extracted from carbonaceous chondrites, as well as synthetic analogs produced under various plausible disk conditions. These measurements reveal key physical properties, such as density, elasticity, and surface energy, that govern the role of organics in dust coagulation and the early stages of planetesimal growth. Our results challenge long-standing assumptions that organics enhance sticking efficiency and instead point to more limited growth pathways to form cm-sized dust particles.

I will also discuss how these laboratory results help constrain the origin and evolution of organic materials in disks, and how they bridge to broader questions in planetary science and exoplanetary systems. I will also briefly highlight the potential for synergy between our lab-based approach and current efforts in meteorite analysis, disk modeling, and exoplanet atmosphere studies.

Biography: Xinting earned her bachelor’s degree with honors in Space Physics at the University of Science and Technology of China in 2014. Xinting received her Ph.D. in Planetary Science at Johns Hopkins University. She was a 51 Pegasi b Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Santa Cruz. She just joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UTSA in Jan 2023. Xinting is a planetary material scientist that focuses on characterizing and understanding planetary materials using experimental material science techniques. Her experimental works also interface theoretical modeling to gain a comprehensive understanding of various atmosphere and surface processes in and outside the solar system.