The Astrophysicist's LaTeX Setup: RevTeX, AASTeX & Beyond

Astrophysicists use LaTeX because their work is unwritable without it. Dense equations, tensor notation, hundreds of citations, journal-mandated formatting, and arXiv preprints all assume LaTeX source. In physics and astronomy the running joke — "only crackpots use Word" — is really a statement about tooling: LaTeX is the language the field publishes in.

Below is the exact, modern setup a working astronomer uses in 2026: the journal classes, the preprint workflow, the figure and citation tooling, and how to collaborate on it without installing anything.

Why LaTeX won physics and astronomy

Three forces lock the field into LaTeX. First, mathematics: a Word equation editor cannot typeset a gravitational-wave strain expression or a radiative-transfer integral cleanly, and reviewers notice. Second, journal classes: every major journal ships an official LaTeX class that enforces its column layout, reference style, and metadata. Third, arXiv and reproducibility: nearly every astronomy paper is posted to arXiv from its LaTeX source, and collaborators expect plain-text, version-controllable input — not a binary blob.

The journal-class map

The single most useful thing to know: which document class matches which journal. Get this right and 90% of the formatting is handled for you.

A minimal AASTeX skeleton

AASTeX (the AAS class) is what you write ApJ and AJ papers in. A stripped-down, compilable skeleton looks like this:

\documentclass[twocolumn]{aastex631}
\begin{document}
\title{Transit Photometry of a Warm Sub-Neptune}
\author{Elena V. Sorokina}
\affiliation{Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge}
\begin{abstract}
We present high-precision transit photometry of TOI-4521 b ...
\end{abstract}
\keywords{exoplanets --- techniques: photometric}
\section{Introduction}
The sub-Neptune population ...
\end{document}

Note that in AASTeX the \title and \author commands go after \begin{document} — a common first-compile gotcha for people coming from the standard article class. Our AASTeX template has the full version with a deluxetable, a figure, and a bibliography already wired up.

RevTeX for Physical Review

APS journals use RevTeX 4.2. The author/affiliation block is the part people fight with; the modern superscriptaddress style keeps it clean:

\documentclass[aps,prd,twocolumn,superscriptaddress]{revtex4-2}
\begin{document}
\title{Constraints on Dark-Matter Self-Interaction}
\author{A.~Researcher}
\affiliation{Department of Physics, Example University}
\begin{abstract}
We derive new limits ...
\end{abstract}
\maketitle
\section{Introduction}
...
\end{document}

Grab the complete, compile-tested version — equations, a pgfplots figure, a results table, and a bibliography — from the RevTeX template.

Figures, citations, and the arXiv workflow

Modern astronomy figures are increasingly built in LaTeX with pgfplots and TikZ so they stay vector-sharp and reproducible from data. Citations come straight from NASA ADS: hit Export → BibTeX on any abstract page and drop the entry into your .bib, then cite with natbib's \citep/\citet. When the paper is ready, you upload the same LaTeX source to arXiv — no reformatting, because you were writing in the submission format the whole time.

Collaborating without installing TeX Live

The one weak spot in the classic setup is collaboration: emailing .tex files or wrangling a shared Git repo mid-deadline is painful, and a local TeX Live install is a barrier for co-authors on borrowed laptops. This is where a browser-based, real-time editor earns its place. LetX compiles RevTeX, AASTeX, and MNRAS documents in about a second, lets every co-author edit the same source live, and — critically for unpublished research — never trains AI on your work. It is a fast, private Overleaf alternative built for exactly this crowd.

Templates to start from today

You do not need to build any of these from scratch. Open any of them in the browser, click Open as Template, and start writing:

• RevTeX 4.2 (APS / Physical Review)
• AASTeX 6.3.1 (ApJ / AJ)
• MNRAS journal paper
• Telescope observing-time proposal and NASA ROSES grant proposal
• Astrophysics Beamer colloquium talk

Browse the full, free, open-source collection at letx.app/templates. Everything is MIT-licensed and compile-tested — write your next paper the way the field actually writes.