Related papers: On the Need for a Classification System for Consis…
The final orbital configuration of a planetary system is shaped by both its early star-disk environment and late-stage gravitational interactions. Assessing the relative importance of each of these factors is not straightforward due to the…
The size distribution of exoplanets is a bimodal division into two groups: Rocky planet (<2 Earth radii) and water-rich planet (>2 Earth radii) with or without gaseous envelope.
The physical bases of the detection and characterisation of extrasolar planets in the reflected light and thermal emission regimes are reviewed. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, including artefacts, in the determination of…
One of the most important developments in exoplanet science in the past decade is the discovery of multi-planet systems with sub-Neptune-sized planets interior to 1~AU. This chapter explores the architectures of these planetary systems,…
Gas-giant planets are thought to require conditions beyond the water snow line to build solid cores efficiently. In close binary star systems, the companion's gravity additionally limits the region of stable orbits, potentially excluding…
Probing the interiors of the gas giant planets in our Solar System is not an easy task. It requires a set of accurate measurements combined with theoretical models that are used to infer the planetary composition and its depth dependence.…
The planets within compact multi-planet systems tend to have similar sizes, masses, and orbital period ratios, like "peas in a pod". This pattern was detected when considering planets with radii between 1 and 4 $R_\oplus$. However, these…
To first order, the Earth as well as other rocky planets in the Solar System and rocky exoplanets orbiting other stars, are refractory pieces of the stellar nebula out of which they formed. To estimate the chemical composition of rocky…
Main sequence stars, like the Sun, are often found to be orbited by circumstellar material that can be categorized into two groups, planets and debris. The latter is made up of asteroids and comets, as well as the dust and gas derived from…
Three planets with minimum masses less than 10 Earth masses orbit the star HD 40307, suggesting these planets may be rocky. However, with only radial velocity data, it is impossible to determine if these planets are rocky or gaseous. Here…
Several studies, observational and theoretical, suggest that planetary systems with only rocky planets should be the most common in the Universe. We study the diversity of planetary systems that might form around Sun-like stars in low-mass…
The Galaxy's stellar populations are naturally classified into six `types', of which five have been observed. These are the thin disk (Pop I in the historical scheme), a discrete thick disk (Pop I.5), the metal-rich bulge, which was not…
Among the hundred or so extrasolar planets discovered to date, 19 are orbiting a component of a double or multiple star system. In this paper, we discuss the properties of these planets and compare them to the characteristics of planets…
Relating planet formation to atmospheric composition has been a long-standing goal of the planetary science community. So far, most modeling studies have focused on predicting the enrichment of heavy elements and the C/O ratio in giant…
We computed the abundance of refractory elements in planetary bodies formed in stellar systems with solar chemical composition by combining models for chemical composition and planet formation. We also consider the formation of refractory…
For centuries, our knowledge of planetary systems and ideas about planet formation were based on a single example, our solar system. During the last thirteen years, the discovery of ~170 planetary systems has ushered in a new era for…
A law of semi-major axes in the Solar system is described. The proposed law is recommended as an additional criterion for planet definition as it represents a generating function of planetary distances.
Exoplanet characterization is one of the main foci of current exoplanetary science. For super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, we mostly rely on mass and radius measurements, which allow to derive the body's mean density and give a rough estimate…
Giant planets have key role in shaping planetary systems. Their composition reveals information on the conditions at which planets form, and their interiors serve as natural laboratories to explore the behavior of materials at extreme…
Super-Earths, a class of planetary bodies with masses ranging from a few Earth-masses to slightly smaller than Uranus, have recently found a special place in the exoplanetary science. Being slightly larger than a typical terrestrial planet,…