Carving Super-Earths From Sub-Neptunes With Mass-Loss
James Sikora
Bishop's University

The Kepler mission revealed that short-period planets with radii between that of Earth and Neptune (known as super-Earths/sub-Neptunes) are amongst the most common planets known to exist outside of our Solar System. These planets are essentially believed to form when a rocky core accretes a primordial envelope composed predominantly of H and He from the protoplanetary disk. The low-density atmospheres are particularly vulnerable to mass-loss, which likely plays an important role in shaping the super-Earth/sub-Neptune population as evidenced by the so-called radius valley. Here I will present a summary of proposed mass-loss mechanisms and their impact on planetary formation/evolution. I will then discuss several ways in which we can empirically test these key theoretical predictions.

Date:	Jeudi, 25 novembre 2021
Time:	11:30
Where:	Université de Montréal
	Campus MIL, Local A-3502.1 et Zoom