Related papers: Jupiter Mass Binary Objects in the Trapezium Clust…
One of the most surprising discoveries of extrasolar planets is the detection of planets in moderately close binary star systems. The Jovian-type planets in the two binaries of Gamma Cephei and GJ 86 have brought to the forefront questions…
Using proper motion data for 894 stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) compiled by Jones & Walker in 1988, we search for binaries with apparent separations in the range 1000-5000 AU, and find an upper limit of three. Using a Monte Carlo…
We develop analytical tools and perform three-body simulations to investigate the orbital evolution and dynamical stability of binary planets within star clusters. Our analytical results show that the orbital stability of a planetary-mass…
Royal Society Discussion Meeting (2013) `Characterizing exoplanets'. Of the 900+ confirmed exoplanets discovered since 1995 for which we have constraints on their mass (i.e., not including Kepler candidates), 75% have masses larger than…
In this short review, we summarize our present understanding (and non-understanding) of exoplanet formation, structure and evolution, in the light of the most recent discoveries. Recent observations of transiting massive brown dwarfs seem…
We present a near-IR survey of the Trapezium Cluster and inner Orion Nebula using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The survey with the NIRCam instrument covers 10.9 x 7.5 arcminutes (~1.25 x 0.85 pc) in twelve wide-, medium-,…
We study the orbital evolution of wide binary stars in the solar neighborhood due to gravitational perturbations from passing stars. We include the effects of the Galactic tidal field and continue to follow the stars after they become…
A major outstanding question regarding the formation of planetary systems is whether wide-orbit giant planets form differently than close-in giant planets. We aim to establish constraints on two key parameters that are relevant for…
We report on a sensitive infrared search for disks around isolated young planetary-mass objects (PMOs) in the NGC1333 cluster, by stacking 70 Spitzer/IRAC frames at 3.6 and 4.5$\,\mu m$. Our co-added images go >2.3 mag deeper than…
Dynamical interactions that take place between objects in dense stellar systems lead to frequent formation of exotic stellar objects, unusual binaries, and systems of higher multiplicity. They are most important for the formation of…
Most young low-mass stars are born as binary systems, and circumstellar disks have recently been observed around the individual components of proto-binary systems (e.g. L1551-IRS5). Thus planets and planetary systems are likely to form…
Detection of Jupiter mass companions to nearby solar type stars with precise radial velocity measurements is now routine, and Doppler surveys are moving towards lower velocity amplitudes. The detection of several Neptune-mass planets with…
We present results from the largest numerical simulation of star formation to resolve the fragmentation process down to the opacity limit. The simulation follows the collapse and fragmentation of a large-scale turbulent molecular cloud to…
A measurement by microlensing of the planetary mass function of planets with masses ranging from 5M_E to 10M_J and orbital radii from 0.5 to 10 AU was reported recently. A strategy for extending the mass range down to (1-3)M_E is proposed…
Using near-infrared speckle interferometry we have obtained resolved JHK-photometry for the components of 58 young binary systems. From these measurements, combined with other data taken from literature, we derive masses and particularly…
We present the results of a deep ZYJ near-infrared survey of 13.5 square degrees in the Upper Scorpius (USco) OB association. We photometrically selected ~100 cluster member candidates with masses in the range 30-5 Jupiters, according to…
Stellar models indicate that the core compactness of a star, which is a common proxy for its explodability in a supernova, does not increase monotonically with the star's mass. Rather, the core compactness dips sharply over a range of…
We study the survival of gas planets around stars with masses in the range 1-5 Msun, as these stars evolve off the Main Sequence. We show that planets with masses smaller than one Jupiter mass do not survive the Planetary Nebula phase if…
Discoveries of close-in young puffy (R$_{\rm p} \gtrsim$ 6 R$_\oplus$) planets raise the question of whether they are bona fide hot Jupiters or puffed-up Neptunes, potentially placing constraints on the formation location and timescale of…
The Juno mission has revolutionized and challenged our understanding of Jupiter. As Juno transitioned to its extended mission, we review the major findings of Jupiter's internal structure relevant to understanding Jupiter's formation and…