Planetary Evolution Across Stellar Lifetimes

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• Sydney Jenkins, MIT
• Tuesday 23 September 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Ryle seminar room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Max Sommer.

Over the past thirty years, nearly 6,000 planets have been confirmed. These systems provide key insights into how planet populations evolve over time, sculpted by planetary dynamics and stellar processes. Such mechanisms can drive dramatic changes on the planet and, in extreme cases, lead to its destruction. However, there are many gaps in our understanding of the evolution of planetary systems. In particular, the ultimate fate of these systems as their host stars evolve off the main sequence remains largely unknown. In this talk, I will present my work probing the mechanisms that shape planets over their lifetime. First, I will examine the impact of migration and photoevaporation on main-sequence systems. The recently confirmed planet, TOI -5800 b, provides a unique case study of an eccentric sub-Neptune on a close-in orbit, and may provide insight into how evolutionary processes contribute to population-level features such as the Neptunian desert. Second, I will describe how stellar evolution transforms planetary systems. In addition to destroying inner planets and dramatically altering the dynamics of outer planets, this process may also fundamentally alter the atmospheric composition of giant planets through a phase called common envelope evolution. Finally, I will discuss the ultimate fate of planet populations as their host stars evolve to their final state as white dwarfs. Even in these mature systems, planets can be destroyed through scattering into their host’s Roche radius, leaving an observational signature called “pollution.” I will also highlight ongoing efforts to probe the surviving planet population around white dwarf stars with JWST .

This talk is part of the Exoplanet Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Cambridge Astronomy Talks
• Combined External Astrophysics Talks DAMTP
• Cosmology, Astrophysics and General Relativity
• Exoplanet Seminars
• Institute of Astronomy Talk Lists
• LCLU Departmental Talks
• Ryle seminar room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email

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