Astro Seminar Series - VIA ZOOM

Wednesday, November 3, 2021 11:30 am - 11:30 am EDT (GMT -04:00)
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Michael R. Meyer is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Michigan.  He was Chair of Star and Planet Formation at the ETH in Zürich and was formerly a Professor/Astronomer at the Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona.  He was a Hubble Fellow at the University of Arizona and did a post-doc at the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomie.  He has more than 25 years of international scientific research experience, in the fields of galactic and infrared astronomy, as well as the formation, evolution, and characterization of planetary systems (and associated implications on the prospects for life in the Universe).  He has participated in the development of ground- and space-based instrumentation, including both the NIRCam and NIRISS instruments for the James Webb Space Telescope as well as high contrast imaging systems/spectrographs for 6-10 meter telescopes and next generation extremely large telescopes.

Talk Title and Abstract:

Exoplanet Demographics and Gas Giant Planet Formation

Abstract: Exoplanet demographics are emerging as a function of planet mass, orbital separation, and host star properties based on results combined from diverse survey techniques (Gaudi, Christiansen, and Meyer, 2020).  Connecting the initial conditions of planet formation in circumstellar disks from which they form, with population outcomes is a powerful test of planet formation theory.  One variable we can manipulate in this context is host star mass.  We have developed a theoretical framework to explore gas giant planet formation and propose an explanation of the observed planet mass function (Adams, Meyer, and Adams 2021).  I will review gas giant planet demographics, introduce a parametric model that describes the data, explore our theoretical framework in this context, and outline remaining questions that require future work.

Would you like to join this Zoom seminar?  Please e-mail WCA.

Location Information
Location Address: PHY - Physics
200 University Avenue West
Virtual Meeting
Waterloo, ON, CA  N2L 3G1
Location coordinates:
Additional Information
Host: Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics