PTYS/LPL Faculty

Steward N208B
Dániel Apai
Associate Professor
Ph.D., 2004, University of Heidelberg
Years with LPL: 2011 to present
Astrobiology, Exoplanets; Planetary Formation and Evolution, Planetary Atmospheres
Dr. Apai’s research focuses on exoplanetary systems, including planet formation, planetary atmospheres, exoplanet discovery and characterization. His work covers habitable and non-habitable small exoplanets, gas giant exoplanets, and brown dwarfs.
Read more about Dr. Apai's research on his website and blog on exoplanet exploration and astrobiology.
Current Grants
- ACCESS - A transmission spectroscopy survey of exoplanet atmospheres with the goal to compile a comprehensive spectral library of exoplanets, from hot jupiters to super-earths.
- Scorpion Survey - A 100-star VLT extreme adaptive optics high-contrast imaging survey for giant exoplanets.
- Earths in Other Solar Systems - A large interdisciplinary NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science project to explore how habitable zone earth-sized planets acquire their volatiles and organics required to be habitable. This 5-year, $5.7M interdisciplinary project includes 17 graduate students and postdocs and 20 senior investigators.
- Cloud Atlas - A Large Treasury program with the Hubble Space Telescope to determine how cloud deck properties in brown dwarfs and exoplanets depend on surface gravity and temperature.
- Extrasolar Storms - The Physics and Chemistry of Evolving Cloud Structures in Brown Dwarf Atmospheres: Spitzer Exploration Science Program (PI Apai)
Current Graduate Students
Former Students
- Davin Flateau, 2015 (M.S.)
- Jake Ryan Hanson, 2014, University of Arizona
- Judit Szulagyi, 2010-2011, Space Telescope Science Institute and Eotvos Lorand University
- Laszlo Szucs, 2009-2011, Space Telescope Science Institute and University of Szeged
- Veselin Kostov, 2009, Johns Hopkins University
- Justin Rogers, 2008-2012, Johns Hopkins University
- Emily Hardegree-Ullman, 2006-2007, University of Arizona
- Yancey Sechrest, 2005-2006, University of Arizona
- Emily E. Berkson (UA Astronomy)
- William Nolan (UA CAMPARE)
Current Postdocs
- Elena Manjavacas
- Jonathan Rees
Former Postdocs
- Esther Buenzli
- Theodora Karalidi
- Gijs Mulders
- Hao Yang
Complete publications list available from: NASA ADS Author search: Daniel Apai
Recent refereed publications (NASA ADS): Years 2019 through 2020
Lew, Ben W. P., Apai, Dániel, Marley, Mark, Saumon, Didier, Schneider, Glenn, Zhou, Yifan, Cowan, Nicolas B., Karalidi, Theodora, Manjavacas, Elena, Bedin, L. R., & Miles-Páez, Paulo A. 2020, The Astrophysical Journal. Cloud Atlas: Unraveling the Vertical Cloud Structure with the Time-series Spectrophotometry of an Unusually Red Brown Dwarf
McGruder, Chima D., López-Morales, Mercedes, Espinoza, Néstor, Rackham, Benjamin V., Apai, Dániel, Jordán, Andrés, Osip, David J., Alam, Munazza K., Bixel, Alex, Fortney, Jonathan J., Henry, Gregory W., Kirk, James, Lewis, Nikole K., Rodler, Florian, & Weaver, Ian C. 2020, The Astronomical Journal. ACCESS: Confirmation of No Potassium in the Atmosphere of WASP-31b
Tremblin, P., Phillips, M. W., Emery, A., Baraffe, I., Lew, B. W. P., Apai, D., Biller, B. A., & Bonnefoy, M. 2020, Astronomy and Astrophysics. Rotational spectral modulation of cloudless atmospheres for L/T brown dwarfs and extrasolar giant planets
Wagner, Kevin, Apai, Dániel, Kasper, Markus, McClure, Melissa, Robberto, Massimo, & Currie, Thayne 2020, The Astrophysical Journal. Direct Imaging Discovery of a Young Brown Dwarf Companion to an A2V Star
Yan, F., Espinoza, N., Molaverdikhani, K., Henning, Th., Mancini, L., Mallonn, M., Rackham, B. V., Apai, D., Jordán, A., Mollière, P., Chen, G., Carone, L., & Reiners, A. 2020, Astronomy and Astrophysics. LBT transmission spectroscopy of HAT-P-12b. Confirmation of a cloudy atmosphere with no significant alkali features
Dietrich, Jeremy & Apai, Dániel 2020, The Astronomical Journal. Hidden Worlds: Dynamical Architecture Predictions of Undetected Planets in Multi-planet Systems and Applications to TESS Systems
Zhou, Yifan, Bowler, Brendan P., Morley, Caroline V., Apai, Dániel, Kataria, Tiffany, Bryan, Marta L., & Benneke, Björn 2020, The Astronomical Journal. Spectral Variability of VHS J1256-1257b from 1 to 5 μm
Meusinger, H., Rudolf, C., Stecklum, B., Hoeft, M., Mauersberger, R., & Apai, D. 2020, Astronomy and Astrophysics. The galaxy population within the virial radius of the Perseus cluster
Mulders, Gijs D., O'Brien, David P., Ciesla, Fred J., Apai, Dániel, & Pascucci, Ilaria 2020, The Astrophysical Journal. Earths in Other Solar Systems' N-body Simulations: The Role of Orbital Damping in Reproducing the Kepler Planetary Systems
Bixel, Alex & Apai, Dániel 2020, The Astrophysical Journal. Testing Earthlike Atmospheric Evolution on Exo-Earths through Oxygen Absorption: Required Sample Sizes and the Advantage of Age-based Target Selection
Wagner, Kevin, Stone, Jordan, Dong, Ruobing, Ertel, Steve, Apai, Daniel, Doelman, David, Bohn, Alexander, Najita, Joan, Brittain, Sean, Kenworthy, Matthew, Keppler, Miriam, Webster, Ryan, Mailhot, Emily, & Snik, Frans 2020, The Astronomical Journal. First Images of the Protoplanetary Disk around PDS 201
Gibbs, Aidan, Bixel, Alex, Rackham, Benjamin V., Apai, Dániel, Schlecker, Martin, Espinoza, Néstor, Mancini, Luigi, Chen, Wen-Ping, Henning, Thomas, Gabor, Paul, Boyle, Richard, Perez Chavez, Jose, Mousseau, Allie, Dietrich, Jeremy, Jay Socia, Quentin, Ip, Wing, Ngeow, Chow-Choong, Tsai, An-Li, Bhandare, Asmita, Marian, Victor, Baehr, Hans, Brown, Samantha, Häberle, Maximilian, Keppler, Miriam, Molaverdikhani, Karan, & Sarkis, Paula 2020, The Astronomical Journal. EDEN: Sensitivity Analysis and Transiting Planet Detection Limits for Nearby Late Red Dwarfs
Zhou, Yifan, Apai, Dániel, Bedin, Luigi R., Lew, Ben W. P., Schneider, Glenn, Burgasser, Adam J., Manjavacas, Elena, Karalidi, Theodora, Metchev, Stanimir, Miles-Páez, Paulo A., Cowan, Nicolas B., Lowrance, Patrick J., & Radigan, Jacqueline 2020, The Astronomical Journal. Cloud Atlas: High-precision HST/WFC3/IR Time-resolved Observations of Directly Imaged Exoplanet HD 106906b
Lew, Ben W. P., Apai, Dániel, Zhou, Yifan, Radigan, Jacqueline, Marley, Mark, Schneider, Glenn, Cowan, Nicolas B., Miles-Páez, Paulo A., Manjavacas, Elena, Karalidi, Theodora, Bedin, L. R., Lowrance, Patrick J., & Burgasser, Adam J. 2020, The Astronomical Journal. Cloud Atlas: Weak Color Modulations Due to Rotation in the Planetary-mass Companion GU Psc b and 11 Other Brown Dwarfs
Kitzmann, Daniel, Heng, Kevin, Oreshenko, Maria, Grimm, Simon L., Apai, Dániel, Bowler, Brendan P., Burgasser, Adam J., & Marley, Mark S. 2020, The Astrophysical Journal. Helios-r2: A New Bayesian, Open-source Retrieval Model for Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanet Atmospheres
Weaver, Ian C., López-Morales, Mercedes, Espinoza, Néstor, Rackham, Benjamin V., Osip, David J., Apai, Dániel, Jordán, Andrés, Bixel, Alex, Lewis, Nikole K., Alam, Munazza K., Kirk, James, McGruder, Chima, Rodler, Florian, & Fienco, Jennifer 2020, The Astronomical Journal. ACCESS: A Visual to Near-infrared Spectrum of the Hot Jupiter WASP-43b with Evidence of H<SUB>2</SUB>O, but No Evidence of Na or K
Bixel, Alex & Apai, Dániel 2020, The Astronomical Journal. Identifying Exo-Earth Candidates in Direct Imaging Data through Bayesian Classification
Mulders, Gijs D., Mordasini, Christoph, Pascucci, Ilaria, Ciesla, Fred J., Emsenhuber, Alexandre, & Apai, Dániel 2019, The Astrophysical Journal. The Exoplanet Population Observation Simulator. II. Population Synthesis in the Era of Kepler
Miles-Páez, Paulo A., Metchev, Stanimir, Apai, Dániel, Zhou, Yifan, Manjavacas, Elena, Karalidi, Theodora, Lew, Ben W. P., Burgasser, Adam J., Bedin, Luigi R., Cowan, Nicolas, Lowrance, Patrick J., Marley, Mark S., Radigan, Jacqueline, & Schneider, Glenn 2019, The Astrophysical Journal. Cloud Atlas: Variability in and out of the Water Band in the Planetary-mass HD 203030B Points to Cloud Sedimentation in Low-gravity L Dwarfs
Boehle, A., Quanz, S. P., Lovis, C., Ségransan, D., Udry, S., & Apai, D. 2019, Astronomy and Astrophysics. Combining high-contrast imaging and radial velocities to constrain the planetary architectures of nearby stars
Bedin, L. R., Salaris, M., Anderson, J., Libralato, M., Apai, D., Nardiello, D., Rich, R. M., Bellini, A., Dieball, A., Bergeron, P., Burgasser, A. J., Milone, A. P., & Marino, A. F. 2019, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The HST large programme on NGC 6752 - III. Detection of the peak of the white dwarf luminosity function
Leggett, S. K., Dupuy, Trent J., Morley, Caroline V., Marley, Mark S., Best, William M. J., Liu, Michael C., Apai, D., Casewell, S. L., Geballe, T. R., Gizis, John E., Pineda, J. Sebastian, Rieke, Marcia, & Wright, G. S. 2019, The Astrophysical Journal. 3.8 μm Imaging of 400-600 K Brown Dwarfs and Orbital Constraints for WISEP J045853.90+643452.6AB
Wagner, Kevin, Stone, Jordan M., Spalding, Eckhart, Apai, Daniel, Dong, Ruobing, Ertel, Steve, Leisenring, Jarron, & Webster, Ryan 2019, The Astrophysical Journal. Thermal Infrared Imaging of MWC 758 with the Large Binocular Telescope: Planetary-driven Spiral Arms?
Apai, Dániel, Milster, Tom D., Kim, Dae Wook, Bixel, Alex, Schneider, Glenn, Liang, Ronguang, & Arenberg, Jonathan 2019, The Astronomical Journal. A Thousand Earths: A Very Large Aperture, Ultralight Space Telescope Array for Atmospheric Biosignature Surveys
Zhou, Yifan, Apai, Dániel, Lew, Ben W. P., Schneider, Glenn, Manjavacas, Elena, Bedin, Luigi R., Cowan, Nicolas B., Marley, Mark S., Radigan, Jacqueline, Karalidi, Theodora, Lowrance, Patrick J., Miles-Páez, Paulo A., Metchev, Stanimir, & Burgasser, Adam J. 2019, The Astronomical Journal. Erratum: “Cloud Atlas: High-contrast Time-resolved Observations of Planetary-mass Companions” (<A href="https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ab037f">2019, AJ, 157, 128</A>)
Wagner, Kevin, Apai, Dániel, & Kratter, Kaitlin M. 2019, The Astrophysical Journal. On the Mass Function, Multiplicity, and Origins of Wide-orbit Giant Planets
Milone, A. P., Marino, A. F., Bedin, L. R., Anderson, J., Apai, D., Bellini, A., Dieball, A., Salaris, M., Libralato, M., Nardiello, D., Bergeron, P., Burgasser, A. J., Rees, J. M., Rich, R. M., & Richer, H. B. 2019, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The HST Large Programme on NGC 6752 - II. Multiple populations at the bottom of the main sequence probed in NIR
Manjavacas, Elena, Apai, Dániel, Lew, Ben W. P., Zhou, Yifan, Schneider, Glenn, Burgasser, Adam J., Karalidi, Theodora, Miles-Páez, Paulo A., Lowrance, Patrick J., Cowan, Nicolas, Bedin, Luigi R., Marley, Mark S., Metchev, Stan, & Radigan, Jacqueline 2019, The Astrophysical Journal. Cloud Atlas: Rotational Spectral Modulations and Potential Sulfide Clouds in the Planetary-mass, Late T-type Companion Ross 458C
Bedin, L. R., Salaris, M., Rich, R. M., Richer, H., Anderson, J., Bettoni, D., Nardiello, D., Milone, A. P., Marino, A. F., Libralato, M., Bellini, A., Dieball, A., Bergeron, P., Burgasser, A. J., & Apai, D. 2019, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The HST Large Programme on NGC 6752. I. Serendipitous discovery of a dwarf Galaxy in background
Zhou, Yifan, Apai, Dániel, Lew, Ben W. P., Schneider, Glenn, Manjavacas, Elena, Bedin, Luigi R., Cowan, Nicolas B., Marley, Mark S., Radigan, Jacqueline, Karalidi, Theodora, Lowrance, Patrick J., Miles-Páez, Paulo A., Metchev, Stanimir, & Burgasser, Adam J. 2019, The Astronomical Journal. Cloud Atlas: High-contrast Time-resolved Observations of Planetary-mass Companions
Manjavacas, Elena, Apai, Dániel, Zhou, Yifan, Lew, Ben W. P., Schneider, Glenn, Metchev, Stan, Miles-Páez, Paulo A., Radigan, Jacqueline, Marley, Mark S., Cowan, Nicolas, Karalidi, Theodora, Burgasser, Adam J., Bedin, Luigi R., Lowrance, Patrick J., & Kauffmann, Parker 2019, The Astronomical Journal. Cloud Atlas: Hubble Space Telescope Near-infrared Spectral Library of Brown Dwarfs, Planetary-mass Companions, and Hot Jupiters
Rackham, Benjamin V., Apai, Dániel, & Giampapa, Mark S. 2019, The Astronomical Journal. The Transit Light Source Effect. II. The Impact of Stellar Heterogeneity on Transmission Spectra of Planets Orbiting Broadly Sun-like Stars
Bixel, Alex, Rackham, Benjamin V., Apai, Dániel, Espinoza, Néstor, López-Morales, Mercedes, Osip, David, Jordán, Andrés, McGruder, Chima, & Weaver, Ian 2019, The Astronomical Journal. ACCESS: Ground-based Optical Transmission Spectroscopy of the Hot Jupiter WASP-4b
Espinoza, Néstor, Rackham, Benjamin V., Jordán, Andrés, Apai, Dániel, López-Morales, Mercedes, Osip, David J., Grimm, Simon L., Hoeijmakers, Jens, Wilson, Paul A., Bixel, Alex, McGruder, Chima, Rodler, Florian, Weaver, Ian, Lewis, Nikole K., Fortney, Jonathan J., & Fraine, Jonathan 2019, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. ACCESS: a featureless optical transmission spectrum for WASP-19b from Magellan/IMACS
Gibbs, Aidan, Wagner, Kevin, Apai, Daniel, Moór, Attila, Currie, Thayne, Bonnefoy, Mickäel, Langlois, Maud, & Lisse, Carey 2019, The Astronomical Journal. VLT/SPHERE Multiwavelength High-contrast Imaging of the HD 115600 Debris Disk: New Constraints on the Dust Geometry and the Presence of Young Giant Planets
- Life on Ancient Earth and Alien Planets: UArizona to Lead NASA Astrobiology Projects - November 9, 2020
- Exoplanets Are Still Out There – A New Model Tells Astronomers Where to Look for More Using 4 Simple Variables - November 9, 2020
- NASA’s TESS Spacecraft is Finding Hundreds of Exoplanets – and is Poised to Find Thousands More - November 5, 2019
- A New Lens for Life-Searching Space Telescopes - August 7, 2019
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Semester | Course | Day/Time | Location | Resources |
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Spring 2017 | ASTR 475-001 | |||
Spring 2017 | PTYS 575-001 |