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Close-in giant planets are thought to have formed in the cold outer regions of planetary systems and migrated inward, passing through the orbital parameter space occupied by the terrestrial planets in our own Solar System. We present…
The composition of planets may be largely determined by the chemical processing and accretion of icy pebbles in protoplanetary disks. Recent observations of protoplanetary disks hint at wide-spread depletion of gaseous carbon. The missing…
The composition of a planet's atmosphere is determined by its formation, evolution, and present-day insolation. A planet's spectrum therefore may hold clues on its origins. We present a "chain" of models, linking the formation of a planet…
We review the progresses made in global theoretical models of planetary system formation in the last decade using the example of the planetary system formation framework known as the Bern Model that has been continuously developed since…
Astronomical observations reveal that protoplanetary disks around young stars commonly have ring- and gap-like structures in their dust distributions. These features are associated with pressure bumps trapping dust particles at specific…
Extrasolar planetary host stars are enriched in key planet-building elements. These enrichments have the potential to drastically alter the building blocks available for terrestrial planet formation. Here we report on the combination of…
Our understanding of planet formation has been rapidly evolving in recent years. The classical planet formation theory, developed when the only known planetary system was our own Solar System, has been revised to account for the observed…
Atmospheric chemical abundances of giant planets lead to important constraints on planetary formation and migration. Studies have shown that giant planets that migrate through the protoplanetary disk can accrete substantial amounts of…
Stellar activity and planetary atmospheric properties have the potential to strongly influence habitability. To date, neither have been adequately studied in the multiverse context, so there has been no assessment of how these effects…
Dust grains are the building {blocks} of future planets. They evolve in size, shape and composition during the life cycle of the interstellar medium. We seek to understand the process which leads from diffuse medium grains to dust grains in…
We know that giant planets played a crucial role in the making of our Solar System. The discovery of giant planets orbiting other stars is a formidable opportunity to learn more about these objects, what is their composition, how various…
Earth's tectonic processes regulate the formation of continental crust, control its unique deep water and carbon cycles, and are vital to its surface habitability. A major driver of steady-state plate tectonics on Earth is the sinking of…
Earth's volatile elements (H, C, and N) are essential to maintaining habitable conditions for metazoans and simpler life forms. However, identifying the sources (comets, meteorites, and trapped nebular gas) that supplied volatiles to Earth…
The abundances of atmospheric carbon species--carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and methane (CH4)--exert fundamental controls on the climate, redox state, and prebiotic environment of terrestrial planets. As exoplanet atmospheric…
Astronomical observations and analysis of stardust isolated from meteorites have revealed a highly diverse interstellar and circumstellar grain inventory, including a wide range of amorphous materials and crystalline compounds (silicates…
During their formation, planets form large, hot atmospheres due to the ongoing accretion of solids. It has been customary to assume that all solids end up at the center constituting a "core" of refractory materials, whereas the envelope…
Extensive ground and space based surveys have now characterized the properties of thousands of exoplanets; their radii, masses, orbits around their host stars, and the beginnings of accurate measurements of the chemical compositions of…
Planets are a natural byproduct of the stellar formation process, resulting from local aggregations of material within the disks surrounding young stars. Whereas signatures of gas-giant planets at large orbital separations have been…
Planetary systems such as our own are formed after a long process where matter condenses from diffuse clouds to stars, planets, asteroids, comets and residual dust, undergoing dramatic changes in physical and chemical state in less than a…
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…