Little, Big: The Architecture of Planetary Systems

Rebekah Ilene Dawson (Berkeley)

April 23, 2015

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Abstract: Discoveries of exoplanets so different from those in our Solar System have called in question conventional theories for how planetary systems form and evolve. I will present recent progress in our understanding of the physical processes that drive the assembly of planetary systems and result in the surprising variety of orbital architectures we observe today. I will discuss orbital evolution in both the “little” and “big” planet regime and why orbital architectures differ among systems with different planet sizes.