Astronomical Constraints on Theories of Planet Formation : Understanding the When, Where, and How

Séminaire IPAG de Michael Meyer (ETH Zurich), jeudi 5 avril 2012 à 11h00, IPAG seminar room

Planets are thought to form from circumstellar disks of gas and dust which appear to be an inevitable outcome of the star formation process. Sophisticated models have been put forward to explain the bewildering diversity of planetary systems uncovered to date (including our own). Yet key aspects of these theories are unconstrained. We describe recent results from both ground- and space-based observational programs aimed at : a) defining the range of initial conditions to be assumed in these models ; and b) confronting the predictions of these models with clear observational tests. Ultimately, our goal is to understand planet formation well enough so that we can extrapolate the demographics of potentially habitable planetary systems discovered in the solar neighborhood to the entire galaxy and beyond.