March 27, 1996 - March 27, 2029

  • Date:17WednesdayFebruary 2010

    Planet formation - the next generation: Some overlooked topics in planet formation

    More information
    Time
    14:00 - 15:00
    Location
    Edna and K.B. Weissman Building of Physical Sciences
    LecturerHagai Perets
    Harvard CfA
    Organizer
    Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Astrophysics
    Contact
    AbstractShow full text abstract about Over 400 hundred exoplanets have already been observed in th...»
    Over 400 hundred exoplanets have already been observed in the last decade. Multitudes of asteroids, Kuiper belt objects and other planetesimals are currently being studied in the Solar system. New missions are likely to multiply the numbers of these objects in the coming few years, adding observations of terrestrial planets, planetary systems at different regimes than those probed today, and multiple planetesimals in the Solar-system. Our theoretical understanding of the formation of such objects, however, is still confronted by many difficulties. I would present a few overlooked topics in planet formation. These could both raise additional difficulties and challenges to our understanding, as well as suggest new clues and open novel directions for both the theoretical and observational studies of exo-planets and Solar-system bodies. I will focus on the contribution of binary stellar evolution to the formation of second generation planets, which may open new horizons in the search for exo-planets and the study of the coupling between planet formation and stellar evolution. If time allows, I will also touch upon some work in progress on a few overlooked topics in planet formation, including the role of aerodynamical shearing in planetesimal growth, the role played by binary planetesimals in planet formation, as well as the evolution of such binaries.
    Lecture