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SUMMARY:Origins and Demographics of Super-Earth and Sub-Neptune Sized Plan
 ets - Leslie Rogers (Caltech)
DTSTART:20141110T163000Z
DTEND:20141110T173000Z
UID:TALK55108@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr B.-O. Demory
DESCRIPTION:Sub-Neptune\, super-Earth-size exoplanets are a new planet cla
 ss. Though absent from the Solar System\, they are found by microlensing\,
  radial velocity\, and transit surveys to be common around distant stars. 
 The nature of planets in this regime is not known\; terrestrial super-Eart
 hs\, mini-Neptunes with hydrogen-helium gas layers\, and water-worlds with
  several tens of percent water by mass are all a-priori plausible composit
 ions. Disentangling the contributions from each of these scenarios to the 
 population of observed planets is a critical missing link in our understan
 ding of planet formation\, evolution\, and interior structure. I will revi
 ew individual highlights from the diverse complement of sub-Neptune-size p
 lanets discovered to date\, and present a statistical analysis constrainin
 g the fraction of planets that are rocky as a function of planet size. I w
 ill conclude by describing avenues forward toward identifying bulk composi
 tion trends in the growing census of known exoplanets and connecting these
  composition trends back to distinct planet formation pathways.
LOCATION:Martin Ryle Seminar Room\, Kavli Institute
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