Related papers: On the low-mass planethood criterion
We explore the detection condition of a wide-separation planet through the perturbation induced by the planetary caustic for various microlensing parameters, especially for the size of the source stars. By constructing the fractional…
The habitability of the surface of any planet is determined by a complex evolution of its interior, surface, and atmosphere. The electromagnetic and particle radiation of stars drive thermal, chemical and physical alteration of planetary…
Two dimensional particle disks in proximity to a planet are numerically integrated to determine when a planet in a circular orbit can truncate a particle disk. Collisions are treated by giving each particle a series of velocity…
Many exoplanets are discovered in binary star systems in internal or in circumbinary orbits. Whether the planet can be habitable or not depends on the possibility to maintain liquid water on its surface, and therefore on the luminosity of…
The widespread prevalence of close-in, nearly coplanar super-Earth- and sub-Neptune-sized planets in multiple-planet systems was one of the most surprising results from the Kepler mission. By studying a uniform sample of Kepler "multis"…
Among the several proposals to solve the incompatibility between the observed small value of the cosmological constant and the huge value obtained by quantum field theories, we can find the idea of a decaying vacuum energy density, leading…
We describe quantization schemes for scalar field cosmology in the metric variables with fundamental discreteness imposed with a lattice. The variables chosen for quantization determine the lattice, and each lattice produces distinct…
A range of experimental results point to the existence of a massive neutrino. The recent high precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background and the large scale surveys of galaxies can be used to place an upper bound on this…
We show that, for a low-mass planet that orbits its host star within a few tenths of an AU (like the majority of the {\it Kepler} planets), the atmosphere it was able to accumulate while embedded in the proto-planetary disk may not survive…
This whitepaper discusses the diversity of exoplanets that could be detected by future observations, so that comparative exoplanetology can be performed in the upcoming era of large space-based flagship missions. The primary focus will be…
The search for habitable exoplanets and life beyond the Solar System is one of the most compelling scientific opportunities of our time. Nevertheless, the high cost of building facilities that can address this topic and the keen public…
A planetary system can undergo multiple episodes of intense dynamical activities throughout its life, resulting in the production of star-grazing planetesimals (or exocomets) and pollution of the host star. Such activity is especially…
A high level of diversity has already been observed among the planets of our own Solar System. As such, one expects extrasolar planets to present a wide range of distinctive features, therefore the characterisation of Earth- and super…
The large number of new planets expected from wide-area transit surveys means that follow-up transmission spectroscopy studies of their atmospheres will be limited by the availability of telescope assets. We argue that telescopes covering a…
Recent ground and space-based observations show that stars with multiple planets are common in the galaxy. Most of these observational methods are biased toward detecting large planets near to their host stars. Because of these…
6500+ exoplanets have been detected using various techniques. This prompted the emergence of many recent works on the taxonomy, or classification, of exoplanets. However, there is still no basic, fundamental definition of 'What is a…
The satellite COROT will search for close-in exo-planets around a few thousand stars using the transit search method. The COROT mission holds the promise of detecting numerous exo-planets. Together with radial velocity follow-up…
The interior structure of an exoplanet is hidden from direct view yet likely plays a crucial role in influencing the habitability of the Earth analogues. Inferences of the interior structure are impeded by a fundamental degeneracy that…
We introduce a dynamical model to reduce a large cosmological constant to a sufficiently small value. The basic ingredient in this model is a distinction which has been made between the two unit systems used in cosmology and particle…
Dozens of habitable zone, approximately earth-sized exoplanets are known today. An emerging frontier of exoplanet studies is identifying which of these habitable zone, small planets are actually habitable (have all necessary conditions for…