Related papers: Multi-ring structure of the eclipsing disk in EE C…
The next generation of high-contrast imaging instruments will provide the first unresolved image of an extrasolar planet. While the emitted infrared light from the planet in thermal equilibrium should show almost no phase effect, the…
The study of the last stages of planet formation, also known as debris disks, is fundamental to place constrains on the formation of planetary sized bodies. Debris disks are composed of dust and occasionally small amounts of gas, both…
Mapping exoplanets across phases and during secondary eclipse is a powerful technique for characterizing Hot Jupiters in emission. Since these planets are expected to rotate about axes normal to their orbital planes, with rotation periods…
We apply our recently elaborated, powerful numerical approach to the high-resolution modeling of the structure and emission of circumstellar dust disks, incorporating all relevant physical processes. Specifically, we examine the resonant…
Combining hydrodynamic planet-disk interaction simulations with dust evolution models, we show that protoplanetary disks having a giant planet can reveal diverse morphology in (sub-)millimeter continuum, including a full disk without…
Planet-disk interactions, where an embedded massive body interacts gravitationally with the protoplanetary disk it was formed in, can play an important role in reshaping both the disk and the orbit of the planet. Spiral density waves are…
Most detected transiting planets have orbits which would fit within the one of Mercury, exposing them to intense stellar irradiation and interactions that significantly alter their properties. In contrast, colder planets with longer orbital…
We report the discovery of WASP-8, a transiting planet of 2.25+-0.08 M_Jup on a strongly inclined eccentric 8.15-day orbit, moving in a retrograde direction to the rotation of its late-G host star. Evidence is found that the star is in a…
We explore the possibility of planet formation in the carbon-rich protoplanetary disks of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars, possible relics of the early Universe. The chemically anomalous abundance patterns ([C/Fe] $\geq$ 0.7) in…
(Exo-)planets inherit their budget of chemical elements from a protoplanetary disk. The disk temperature determines the phase of each chemical species, which sets the composition of solids and gas available for planet formation. We…
Although there is abundant and diverse observational evidence in support of white dwarf stars hosting planets or debris disks which form in the catastrophic destruction of various planetary bodies, the key processes that explain these…
A stunning range of substructures in the dust of protoplanetary disks is routinely observed across a range of wavelengths. These gaps, rings and spirals are highly indicative of a population of unseen planets, hinting at the possibility of…
Planet formation studies are often focused on solar-type stars, implicitly considering our Sun as reference point. This approach overlooks, however, that Herbig Ae/Be stars are in some sense much better targets to study planet formation…
<abridged> The large relative sizes of circumstellar and circumplanetary disks imply that they might be seen in eclipse in stellar light curves. We estimate that a survey of ~10^4 young (~10 Myr old) post-accretion pre-MS stars monitored…
Planets embedded within debris disks gravitationally perturb nearby dust and can create clumpy, azimuthally asymmetric circumstellar ring structures that rotate in lock with the planet. The Earth creates one such structure in the solar…
Several stars show deep transits consistent with discs of roughly 1 Solar radius seen at moderate inclinations, likely surrounding planets on eccentric orbits. We show that this configuration arises naturally as a result of planet-planet…
The gravitational influence of a planet on a nearby disk provides a powerful tool for detecting and studying extrasolar planetary systems. Here we demonstrate that gaps can be opened in dynamically cold debris disks at the mean-motion…
Optically thin dusty disks around Main Sequence stars consist of debris from catastrophic collisions or from low erosion of long-lived planetesimals. Resolved observations of dusty disks have systematically evidenced asymmetries and annular…
Observations have revealed a large variety of structures (global asymmetries, warps, belts, rings) and dynamical phenomena ("falling-evaporating bodies" or FEBs, the "Beta Pic dust stream") in the disc of Beta Pictoris, most of which may…
Resolved debris disk features (e.g., warps, offsets, edges and gaps, azimuthal asymmetries, radially thickened rings, scale heights) contain valuable information about the underlying planetary systems, such as the posited planet's mass,…