Population Synthesis of Hot Jupiters and Close-in Super Earths

University Of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Drs. Peter Bodenheimer and Douglas Lin (University of California - Santa Cruz) will undertake a study to determine the frequency of habitable planets around other stars. In recent years, astronomers have discovered over 300 giant planets, ranging in mass from Neptune-sized to several Jupiter masses, but have not yet found small planets like the Earth. The discovery of these massive planets has provided support to the sequential accretion hypothesis (SAH), which assumes that the massive planets were formed, together with a rich population of earth-like planets, through grain condensation, planetesimal coagulation, embryo merging, and gas accretion. The goals of this project include identifying the dominant effects which led to the emergence of diverse populations of planets, including gas giants, hot Jupiters, super Earths, and habitable planets; predicting observable features such as the mass-period and period-eccentricity distributions which are unique signatures of SAH versus other planet formation scenarios; and discovering dependence of planetary properties as functions of the mass and chemical composition of their host stars. The project will contribute toward NSF's goal of integration of research and scientific education by using the talents of two graduate students and some undergraduates in various aspects of the theoretical calculations. Results will be disseminated through public lectures on planetary science and through contributions to science journals for the general public.