PTYS/LPL Faculty
![](/https/www.lpl.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/styles/person_profile/public/images/people/Malhotra_Renu_082024_sm.jpg?h=ce2584e2&itok=IFENEmYe)
Renu Malhotra
Louise Foucar Marshall Science Research Professor, Regents Professor
Ph.D., 1988, Cornell University
Years with LPL: 2000 to present
Astrobiology, Exoplanets, Orbital Dynamics, Planetary Formation and Evolution, Small Bodies, Theoretical Astrophysics
Professor Malhotra's research spans orbital dynamics in the solar system and in exo-solar planetary systems. Current topics of research are: theory of orbital resonances, stability and chaos in the asteroid belt and in the Kuiper belt, orbital evolution mechanisms of near-Earth asteroids, the orbital migration history of the giant planets, and the dynamics of exo-solar planetary systems.
Renu Malhotra is Louise Foucar Marshall Science Research Professor and Regents Professor of Planetary Sciences at The University of Arizona in Tucson, where she directed the Theoretical Astrophysics Program during 2011-2016. She was born in New Delhi and grew up in Hyderabad, India. She earned her M.S. in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi in 1983, and her Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University in 1988. She did post-doctoral research at Cornell and at Caltech, and worked as a staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. Her work in planetary dynamics has spanned a wide variety of topics, including extra-solar planets and debris disks around nearby stars, the formation and evolution of the Kuiper belt and the asteroid belt, the orbital resonances amongst the moons of the giant planets, and the meteoritic bombardment history of the planets. She has revolutionized our understanding of the history of the solar system by using the orbital resonance between Pluto and Neptune to infer large-scale orbital migration of the giant planets and to predict the existence of the "Plutinos" and other small planets in resonance with Neptune. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has been the recipient of honors and awards from the American Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical Union, the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cornell University, The University of Arizona, and the IIT-Delhi.
Current Grants
- Co-I, Alien Earths, NASA
- PI, Characterizing Resonant Kuiper Belt Objects with Directional Statistics, NASA
- Co-I, Tools for Advanced Dynamical Characterization of Solar System Small Bodies: NASA
- Co-I, Characterizing Multi-planet Systems with Integrated Demographics, NASA
Current Spacecraft Involvement
Former Spacecraft Involvement
- Interstellar Probe Science Definition Team, 1999-2004
Student Collaborations/Advising
(Current in boldface)
- Brenae Bailey (APPMATH)
- Theodore Broeren (APPMATH)
- Garett Brown (University of Toronto)
- Saverio Cambioni (PTYS)
- Jose Daniel Castro Cisneros (PHYS)
- Zherui Chen (Tsinghua University)
- Jeremy Dietrich (ASTR)
- Michael Hammer (ASTR)
- Hamish Hay (PTYS)
- Nathan Hendler (PTYS)
- Youngmin JeongAhn (PTYS)
- Lei Lan (Tsinghua University)
- Po-Yen Liu (NCU-Taiwan)
- David Lomeli (PHYS+ASTR)
- Ian Matheson (AME)
- David Minton (PTYS)
- Amaya Moro-Martin (ASTR)
- Sarah Morrison (PTYS)
- Logan Pearce (ASTR)
- Jessica Pillow (APPMATH)
- Nathan Reiland (AME)
- Timothy Rodigas (ASTR)
- Supriya Roy (Stanford Online High School)
- Benjamin Sharkey (PTYS)
- Rachel Smullen (ASTR)
- Adam Sutherland (ASTR)
- Matthew Tiscareno (PTYS)
- Kathryn Volk (PTYS)
- Xianyu Wang (Tsinghua University)
- Nan Zhang (Tsinghua University)
Former Postdocs
- Kathryn Volk
- Joseph Hahn
- Stephen Kortenkamp
Current Research/Staff Scientists
- Kathryn Volk
Based on Google Scholar and NASA ADS - Years 2019 through June 2024
Volk, Kathryn & Malhotra, Renu 2024, The Astronomical Journal. Differences between Stable and Unstable Architectures of Compact Planetary Systems
Jiao, Yifei, Cheng, Bin, Huang, Yukun, Asphaug, Erik, Gladman, Brett, Malhotra, Renu, Michel, Patrick, Yu, Yang, & Baoyin, Hexi 2024, Nature Astronomy. Asteroid Kamo`oalewa's journey from the lunar Giordano Bruno crater to Earth 1:1 resonance
Dietrich, Jeremy, Malhotra, Renu, & Apai, Dániel 2024, The Astronomical Journal. Statistical Distribution Function of Orbital Spacings in Planetary Systems
Castro-Cisneros, Jose Daniel, Malhotra, Renu, & Rosengren, Aaron J. 2023, Communications Earth and Environment. Lunar ejecta origin of near-Earth asteroid Kamo'oalewa is compatible with rare orbital pathways
Castro-Cisneros, J.D., Malhotra, R. & Rosengren, A.J. 2023, Commun Earth Environ. Lunar ejecta origin of near-Earth asteroid Kamo’oalewa is compatible with rare orbital pathways
Schwamb, Megan E., Jones, R. Lynne, Yoachim, Peter, Volk, Kathryn, Dorsey, Rosemary C., Opitom, Cyrielle, Greenstreet, Sarah, Lister, Tim, Snodgrass, Colin, Bolin, Bryce T., Inno, Laura, Bannister, Michele T., Eggl, Siegfried, Solontoi, Michael, Kelley, Michael S. P., Jurić, Mario, Lin, Hsing Wen, Ragozzine, Darin, Bernardinelli, Pedro H., Chesley, Steven R., Daylan, Tansu, Ďurech, Josef, Fraser, Wesley C., Granvik, Mikael, Knight, Matthew M., Lisse, Carey M., Malhotra, Renu, Oldroyd, William J., Thirouin, Audrey, & Ye, Quanzhi 2023, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. Tuning the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Observing Strategy for Solar System Science
Malhotra, Renu & Roy, Supriya 2023, Res. Notes AAS. Modeling the Free Inclinations of the Classical Kuiper Belt with the von Mises–Fisher Distribution
Matheson, I.C., & Malhotra, R., Keane, J.T., 2023, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. A von Mises–Fisher distribution for the orbital poles of the plutinos
Matheson, I.C., & Malhotra, R., 2023, Astronomical Journal. A Measurement of the Kuiper Belt's Mean Plane From Objects Classified By Machine Learning
Malhotra, Renu & Chen, Zherui 2023, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Non-perturbative investigation of low eccentricity exterior mean motion resonances
Volk, Kathryn & Malhotra, Renu 2022, The Astrophysical Journal. Orbital Dynamics Landscape near the Most Distant Known Trans-Neptunian Objects
Malhotra, Renu & Ito, Takashi 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Pluto near the edge of chaos
Dietrich, Jeremy, Apai, Dániel, & Malhotra, Renu 2022, The Astronomical Journal. An Integrative Analysis of the HD 219134 Planetary System and the Inner solar system: Extending DYNAMITE with Enhanced Orbital Dynamical Stability Criteria
Sharkey, Benjamin N. L., Reddy, Vishnu, Malhotra, Renu, Thirouin, Audrey, Kuhn, Olga, Conrad, Albert, Rothberg, Barry, Sanchez, Juan A., Thompson, David, & Veillet, Christian 2021, Communications Earth and Environment. Lunar-like silicate material forms the Earth quasi-satellite (469219) 2016 HO<SUB>3</SUB> Kamoʻoalewa
Reiland, N., Rosengren, A. J., Malhotra, R., Bombardelli, C. 2021, Advances in Space Research Assessing and minimizing collisions in satellite mega-constellations
Agol, E., Dorn, C., Grimm, S. L., Turbet, M., Ducrot, E., Delrez, L., Gillon, M., Demory, B.-O., Burdanov, A., Barkaoui, K., Benkhaldoun, Z., Bolmont, E., Burgasser, A., Carey, S., de Wit, J., Fabrycky, D., Foreman-Mackey, D., Haldemann, J., Hernandez, D. M., Ingalls, J., Jehin, E., Langford, Z., Leconte, J., Lederer, S. M., Luger, R., Malhotra, R., Meadows, V. S., Morris, B. M., Pozuelos, F. J., Queloz, D., Raymond, S. N., Selsis, F., Sestovic, M., Triaud, A. H. M. J., Van Grootel, V. 2021, The Planetary Science Journal Refining the Transit-timing and Photometric Analysis of TRAPPIST-1: Masses, Radii, Densities, Dynamics, and Ephemerides
Hendler, Nathanial P. & Malhotra, Renu 2020, The Planetary Science Journal. Observational Completion Limit of Minor Planets from the Asteroid Belt to Jupiter Trojans
Petrovich, Cristobal, Muñoz, Diego J., Kratter, Kaitlin M., & Malhotra, Renu 2020, The Astrophysical Journal. A Disk-driven Resonance as the Origin of High Inclinations of Close-in Planets
Barnouin, O. S., et al. (including Malhotra, R.) 2020, Nature Geoscience. Author Correction: Shape of (101955) Bennu indicative of a rubble pile with internal stiffness
Volk, Kathryn & Malhotra, Renu 2020, The Astronomical Journal. Dynamical Instabilities in Systems of Multiple Short-period Planets Are Likely Driven by Secular Chaos: A Case Study of Kepler-102
Malhotra, Renu & Zhang, Nan 2020, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. On the divergence of first-order resonance widths at low eccentricities
Malhotra, Renu & Ingersoll, Andrew P. 2020, Icarus. Adam P. Showman (1968-2020)
Amato, Davide, Malhotra, Renu, Sidorenko, Vladislav, & Rosengren, Aaron J. 2020, Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy. Lunar close encounters compete with the circumterrestrial Lidov-Kozai effect
Hendler, Nathanial, Pascucci, Ilaria, Pinilla, Paola, Tazzari, Marco, Carpenter, John, Malhotra, Renu, & Testi, Leonardo 2020, The Astrophysical Journal. The Evolution of Dust Disk Sizes from a Homogeneous Analysis of 1-10 Myr old Stars
Markwardt, Larissa, Gerdes, D. W., Malhotra, R., Becker, J. C., Hamilton, S. J., & Adams, F. C. 2020, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Search for L5 Earth Trojans with DECam
Malhotra, R. The case for a deep search for Earth’s Trojan asteroids. Nat Astron 3, 193–194 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0697-z
Malhotra, Renu 2019, Geoscience Letters. Resonant Kuiper belt objects: a review
Lan, Lei & Malhotra, Renu 2019, Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy. Neptune's resonances in the scattered disk
Volk, Kathryn & Malhotra, Renu 2019, The Astronomical Journal. Not a Simple Relationship between Neptune’s Migration Speed and Kuiper Belt Inclination Excitation
Su, Kate Y. L., Jackson, Alan P., Gáspár, András, Rieke, George H., Dong, Ruobing, Olofsson, Johan, Kennedy, G. M., Leinhardt, Zoë M., Malhotra, Renu, Hammer, Michael, Meng, Huan Y. A., Rujopakarn, W., Rodriguez, Joseph E., Pepper, Joshua, Reichart, D. E., James, David, & Stassun, Keivan G. 2019, The Astronomical Journal. Extreme Debris Disk Variability: Exploring the Diverse Outcomes of Large Asteroid Impacts During the Era of Terrestrial Planet Formation
Walsh, K. J., Jawin, E. R., Ballouz, R. -L., Barnouin, O. S., Bierhaus, E. B., Connolly, H. C., Molaro, J. L., McCoy, T. J., Delbo', M., Hartzell, C. M., Pajola, M., Schwartz, S. R., Trang, D., Asphaug, E., Becker, K. J., Beddingfield, C. B., Bennett, C. A., Bottke, W. F., Burke, K. N., Clark, B. C., Daly, M. G., Dellagiustina, D. N., Dworkin, J. P., Elder, C. M., Golish, D. R., Hildebrand, A. R., Malhotra, R., Marshall, J., Michel, P., Nolan, M. C., Perry, M. E., Rizk, B., Ryan, A., Sandford, S. A., Scheeres, D. J., Susorney, H. C. M., Thuillet, F., Lauretta, D. S., & Osiris-Rex Team 2019, Nature Geoscience. Publisher Correction: Craters, boulders and regolith of (101955) Bennu indicative of an old and dynamic surface
Barnouin, O. S., et al. (including Malhotra, R.) 2019, Nature Geoscience. Shape of (101955) Bennu indicative of a rubble pile with internal stiffness
Walsh, K. J., Jawin, E. R., Ballouz, R. -L., Barnouin, O. S., Bierhaus, E. B., Connolly, H. C., Molaro, J. L., McCoy, T. J., Delbo', M., Hartzell, C. M., Pajola, M., Schwartz, S. R., Trang, D., Asphaug, E., Becker, K. J., Beddingfield, C. B., Bennett, C. A., Bottke, W. F., Burke, K. N., Clark, B. C., Daly, M. G., Dellagiustina, D. N., Dworkin, J. P., Elder, C. M., Golish, D. R., Hildebrand, A. R., Malhotra, R., Marshall, J., Michel, P., Nolan, M. C., Perry, M. E., Rizk, B., Ryan, A., Sandford, S. A., Scheeres, D. J., Susorney, H. C. M., Thuillet, F., Lauretta, D. S., & Osiris-Rex Team 2019, Nature Geoscience. Craters, boulders and regolith of (101955) Bennu indicative of an old and dynamic surface
Rizk, B., Drouet d'Aubigny, C., Hergenrother, C. W., Bos, B. J., Golish, D. R., Malhotra, R., Lauretta, D. S., Butt, J., Patel, J., Fitzgibbon, M., May, C., Bierhaus, E. B., Freund, S., Fisher, M., Cambioni, S., Bennett, C. A., Balram-Knutson, S. S., Harshman, K., DellaGiustina, D. N., Antreasian, P., Leonard, J., Mink, R., Calloway, A., Bartels, A. E., Enos, H., Boynton, W. V., Nolan, M. C., & Moreau, M. 2019, Advances in Space Research. OSIRIS-REx low-velocity particles during outbound cruise
- China Puts Moon Lander on the Far Side of the Moon - June 3, 2024
- Birthplace of red asteroid Kamo‘oalewa pinned to specific moon crater -- New Scientist, April 2024
- The Science of Leap Day: How It Works, Why We Do It, and When We Skip It - February 15, 2024
UArizona Researchers Probe How a Piece of the Moon Became a Near-Earth Asteroid - October 23, 2023 - Pluto Orbits in Elegant Arrangement with the Giant Planets - May 24, 2023
- Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Heritage Month Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Renu Malhotra - April 2023
- How Pluto Walks a Tightrope Between a Stable and Chaotic Orbit - Space.com, April 2022
- QnAs with Renu Malhotra - PNAS, April 2022
- The Centuries-long Hunt for the Largest Hidden Object in the Solar System - WBUR, February 2022
- A Solution to the Faint-Sun Paradox Reveals a Narrow Window for Life - Quanta, January 2022
- Near-Earth Asteroid Might be a Lost Fragment of the Moon - UA News, November 2021
- A Missing Piece of the Moon May Be Following Earth Around the Sun - New York Times, November 2021
- Second Earth Trojan Asteroid Discovered - Sky & Telescope, February 2021
- UA Scientists and the Curious Case of the Warped Kuiper Belt - June 20, 2017
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Semester | Course | Day/Time | Location | Resources | |
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Spring 2024 | PTYS/ASTR 553-1 | Tuesday, Thursday 2:00-3:15p.m. | Kuiper 312 | Syllabus D2L |
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Spring 2025 | PTYS/ASTR 170A1-001 | Tuesday, Thursday 9:30-10:45a.m. | Kuiper 308 | D2L |
Semester | Course | Day/Time | Location | Resources | |
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Spring 2022 | PTYS/ASTR 553-1 | Tuesday, Thursday 9:30-10:45a.m. | Kuiper 330 | Syllabus D2L |
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Spring 2021 | PTYS 595B-2 | Tuesday, Thursday 9:30-10:45a.m. | Kuiper 301 | Syllabus D2L |
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Spring 2020 | PTYS/ASTR 553-1 | Tuesday, Thursday 9:30-10:45a.m. | Kuiper 312 | Syllabus | |
Spring 2019 | PTYS/ASTR 170B2-1 | Tuesday, Thursday 9:30-10:45a.m. | Kuiper 308 | Syllabus | http://d2l.arizona.edu |
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Fall 2018 | PTYS 516-1 | Tuesday, Thursday 9:30-10:45a.m. | Kuiper 312 | Syllabus | http://d2l.arizona.edu |
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Fall 2018 | PTYS 416-1 | Tuesday, Thursday 9:30-10:45a.m. | Kuiper 312 | Syllabus | http://d2l.arizona.edu |
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Spring 2018 | PTYS/ASTR 553-1 | Tuesday, Thursday 9:30 - 10:45a.m. | Kuiper 312 | Syllabus | https://d2l.arizona.edu |
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