GAS GIANT EXOPLANETS WITH P>50 DAYS AND PRECISELY RV-MEASURED MASSES AND RADII COMPRISE ONLY 8 OF THE CURRENTLY KNOWN SAMPLE OF 4000 EXOPLANETS. THROUGH THIS PROGRAM WE AIM TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE COMPOSITION DYNAMICS AND FORMATION OF THESE PLANETS BY ING AND CHARACTERIZING THE LONGEST-PERIOD PLANETS THAT TESS WILL FIND. WE WILL CONTRIBUTE AT LEAST TWO DOZEN NEW GIANT EXOPLANETS AROUND G AND K DWARF STARS WITH PERIODS LONGER THAN 50 DAYS WITH MEASURED MASSES RADII AND ORBITS. WE WILL USE THIS ENSEMBLE TO EXTEND OUR UNDERSTANDING OF PLANET FORMATION AROUND OTHER STARS TO LOWER IRRADIATION BY DETERMINING: - THE MASS-RADIUS RELATION AND SCATTER FOR TEMPERATE GIANT EXOPLANETS - HOW THE MASS-RADIUS RELATION TRANSITIONS FROM THE NEPTUNIAN TO THE JOVIAN REGIME - HOW THEIR ECCENTRICITY DISTRIBUTION DEPENDS ON THEIR BULK DENSITY AND THE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE. WE WILL ALSO SEARCH FOR AND CHARACTERIZE THE COLDEST EXOPLANETS AROUND TESS M DWARFS.

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators