Yang, Xin

Postdoc

Abteilung für Planetenwissenschaften
Kosmochemie
+49 551 384 979-328

BT2.E3.133

Forschungsinteressen

I am a cosmochemist interested in the formation and evolution of the early Solar System, with a particular focus on refractory inclusions, among the earliest solids formed in the solar nebula. I use O, Al–Mg, Ca, Ti, and Zr isotopes to investigate the distribution and evolution of distinct isotopic reservoirs and physical and chemical processes in the early solar nebula, including mineral formation and mass transport. Cosmogenic He and Ne isotopes provide constraints on energetic-particle irradiation and the activity of the young Sun, which is thought to have been substantially more active than today. By combining laboratory analyses with physical and numerical models, I aim to better understand the spatial and temporal evolution of the early Solar System.
My broader research interests include the interaction of solar energetic particles with protoplanetary disks and their signatures in primitive planetary materials; the CC–NC dichotomy and the carriers of nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies; chondrule formation and planetary accretion; asteroid evolution and its meteoritic record; and the geological evolution of Mars and the Moon.

Vita

Awards and Fellowships:

2024 Stephen E. Dwornik Best Graduate Poster Presentation Award at the 55th LPSC
2024 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad (The “self-financed students abroad” here refer to those students who do not use funding from the Chinese government; most past winners are from overseas universities' doctoral students with full scholarships.)
2023 The Hadean Award for the Excellent Graduate Student at the Field Museum of Natural History
2023 Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (NASA Fellowship)

Education and Employment:

2025–ongoing         Postdoctoral Scholar, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
2019–2025              Ph.D. Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago
2015–2019              B.S. Geochemistry, University of Science and Technology of China

Selected Publications:

Zheng Y., Yang X., Valdes M., Davis A.M., Heck P.R. (2025) Volume measurement of microparticles using SEM images and 3D model construction. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 60 (5), 1227-1235.
doi:10.1111/maps.14351

Yang X., Ciesla F.J., Heck P.R., (2024) Quantifying the high early solar cosmic ray flux with cosmogenic neon isotopes in refractory minerals. The Astrophysical Journal, 973 (1), 34.
doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad655f

Yang X., Hanna R.D., Davis A.M., Neander A.I., Heck P.R., (2022) A record of post-accretion asteroid surface mixing preserved in the Aguas Zarcas meteorite. Nature Astronomy, 6 (9), 1051-1058.
doi:10.1038/s41550-022-01746-4