The Formation and Architecture of Circumbinary Systems

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This award will fund a numerical study of circumbinary planets (those which orbit two stars instead of one) in order to provide a strong dynamical framework for understanding planet formation and interpreting data from ongoing and upcoming exoplanet surveys. Roughly half the stars in the Galaxy are in binaries, and understanding how the planetary masses and orbits are different in these systems is essential to both a full theory of planetary formation and undestanding sites of habitability. The PI and her team will train and mentor graduate and undergraduate students in research with a focus on computational astrophysics. She will also provide educational resources to the University of Arizona Astronomy camp program. The investigators will study dynamical packing in multi-planet systems for a range of binary configurations, and will also carry out hydrodynamic simulations investigating planet-disk interaction in circumbinary systems. They will develop tools to evaluate the role of multi-body resonances in setting stability timescales, implement new thermodynamic modules in FARGO, and predict transit signals that can be used to characterize circumbinary transit timing variations (TTVs). They will use the model transit signals to predict the kinds of planetary systems which will be observable by future surveys.