Andrea Isella

About

Dr. Andrea Isella is the William V. Vietti Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University and serves as the Director of Research at the Rice Space Institute. His professional affiliation is with Rice University, located in Houston, Texas. Dr. Isella's research group focuses on the study of planet formation and circumstellar disks, which are critical areas in understanding the processes that lead to the birth of planets. The group is actively engaged in modeling and imaging circumplanetary disks, contributing to the broader field of astrophysics and planetary science. Dr. Isella's leadership in this research area is reflected in his mentorship of current and former postdoctoral scholars and graduate students, who pursue advanced studies in related topics. His contact information and departmental association underscore his active role in academic research and education at Rice University.

Research topics

• Physics
• Astronomy
• Astrophysics
• Optics

Selected publications

• Planetesimal rings as the cause of the Solar System’s planetary architecture

  Nature Astronomy · 2021 · 113 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• A Multifrequency ALMA Characterization of Substructures in the GM Aur Protoplanetary Disk

  The Astrophysical Journal · 2020 · 95 citations

  Abstract The protoplanetary disk around the T Tauri star GM Aur was one of the first hypothesized to be in the midst of being cleared out by a forming planet. As a result, GM Aur has had an outsized influence on our understanding of disk structure and evolution. We present 1.1 and 2.1 mm ALMA continuum observations of the GM Aur disk at a resolution of ∼50 mas (∼8 au), as well as HCO + J = 3 − 2 observations at a resolution of ∼100 mas. The dust continuum shows at least three rings atop faint, e…

  DOI

• exoALMA. III. Line-intensity Modeling and System Property Extraction from Protoplanetary Disks

  The Astrophysical Journal Letters · 2025-04-28 · 33 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The ALMA large program exoALMA offers a unique window into the three-dimensional physical and dynamical properties of 15 circumstellar disks where planets may be actively forming. Here, we present an analysis methodology to map the gas disk structure and substructure encoded in 12 CO, 13 CO, and CS line emission from our targets. To model and characterize the disk structure probed by optically thin species, such as CS and, in some cases, 13 CO, we introduce a composite line profile kern…

  PublisherDOI

• exoALMA. IV. Substructures, Asymmetries, and the Faint Outer Disk in Continuum Emission

  The Astrophysical Journal Letters · 2025-04-28 · 31 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The exoALMA Large Program targeted a sample of 15 disks to study gas dynamics within these systems, and these observations simultaneously produced continuum data at 0.9 mm (331.6 GHz) with exceptional surface brightness sensitivity at high angular resolution. To provide a robust characterization of the observed substructures, we performed a visibility space analysis of the continuum emission from the exoALMA data, characterizing axisymmetric substructures and nonaxisymmetric residuals o…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• exoALMA. XII. Weighing and Sizing exoALMA Disks with Rotation Curve Modelling

  The Astrophysical Journal Letters · 2025-04-28 · 31 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The exoALMA large program offers a unique opportunity to investigate the fundamental properties of protoplanetary disks, such as their masses and sizes, providing important insights into the mechanism responsible for the transport of angular momentum. In this work, we model the rotation curves of CO isotopologues 12 CO and 13 CO of 10 sources within the exoALMA sample, and we constrain the stellar mass, the disk mass, and the density scale radius through precise characterization of the…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Probing the Origins of Solar Systems with Millimeter-wave Interferometry

  NSF · $84k · 2014–2017

• Probing the Origins of Solar Systems with Millimeter-wave Interferometry

  NSF · $545k · 2011–2015

• Studying Planet Formation by Mapping Small-scale Structures in Circumstellar Disks

  NSF · $487k · 2017–2021

Frequent coauthors

• M. Benisty

  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

  160 shared

• L. Testi

  98 shared

• Laura M. Pérez

  University of Chile

  83 shared

• Luca Ricci

  83 shared

• John M. Carpenter

  Atacama Large Millimeter Submillimeter Array

  74 shared

• Sean M. Andrews

  69 shared

• David J. Wilner

  65 shared

• F. Ménard

  60 shared

Labs

• Andrea Isella's Research GroupPI

Similar researchers at Rice University

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• Rajdeep Dasguptah-58
• Carrie Masielloh-55