Presenter: Madyson Barber, Graduate Student

Title: Understanding Planet Evolution through Young Planet Demographics

Abstract: A major goal of exoplanet science is understanding how planets formed and evolved. The thousands of transiting planets discovered by Kepler enabled population-level analyses of mature planets, but theories regarding planet formation and evolution could not be tested as planets begin to lose markers of formation as soon as the protoplanetary disk begins to dissipate. Instead, we can look at young transiting systems across various ages to understand how planets evolve over time. The current sample size of these young systems is too small to make strong conclusions, thus I propose a systematic search of the young stellar associations in TESS looking for transiting planets. This project will enable stronger statistical comparisons between young and mature planets to better understand evolutionary tracks, a better understanding of the biases present in searching for young planets with TESS, and new young transiting planets that can be individually studied to test theories of planet formation and better understand their young stellar hosts.

Zoom: https://unc.zoom.us/j/6352080559?pwd=oHfqRtlcN4GbkGUhNUtuwm1HpGpeW6.1