Newly-formed planetary systems with ages of <10 Myr offer many unique insights into the formation, evolution, and fundamental properties of extrasolar planets. These planets have fallen beyond the limits of past surveys, but as we enter the next decade, we stand on the threshold of several crucial advances in instrumentation and observing techniques that will finally unveil this critical population. In this white paper, we consider several classes of planets (inner gas giants, outer gas giants, and ultrawide planetary-mass companions) and summarize the motivation for their study, the the observational tests that will distinguish between competing theoretical models, and the infrastructure investments and policy choices that will best enable future discovery. We propose that there are two fundamental questions that must be addressed: 1) Do planets form via core accretion, gravitational instability, or a combination of the two methods? 2) What do the atmospheres an interiors of young planets look like, and does the mass-luminosity relation of young planets more closely resemble the "hot start" or "cold start" models? To address these questions, we recommend investment in high-resolution NIR spectrographs (existing and new), support for innovative new techniques and pathfinder surveys for directly-imaged young exoplanets, and continued investment in visible-light adaptive optics to allow full characterization of wide "planetary-mass" companions for calibrating planet evolutionary models. In summary, testing newly proposed planet formation and evolutionary predictions will require the identification of a large population of young (<10 Myr) planets whose orbital, atmospheric, and structural properties can be studied.
Surveys of young star-forming regions have discovered a growing population of planetary-mass (<13 M_Jup) companions around young stars. There is an ongoing debate as to whether these companions formed like planets (that is, from the circumstellar disk), or if they represent the low-mass tail of the star formation process. In this study we utilize high-resolution spectroscopy to measure rotation rates of three young (2-300 Myr) planetary-mass companions and combine these measurements with published rotation rates for two additional companions to provide a look at the spin distribution of these …
This white paper discusses a repurposed mission for the Kepler spacecraft that focusses on solving outstanding problems in planet formation and evolution by targeting the study of the hot Jupiter population of young stars. This mission can solve the question of the mode of migration of hot Jupiters, address the problem of whether Jupiters form by hot-start (gravitational instability) or cold-start (core accretion) mechanisms, and provide a wealth of data on the early stages of planetary system evolution during the active phases of stars which impact planetary habitability. In one year of obser…
Stellar flybys in star clusters may perturb the evolution of young planetary systems in terms of disk truncation, planetary migration and planetary mass accretion. We investigate the feedback of a young planetary system during a single close stellar encounter in a typical open young stellar cluster. We consider 5 masses for the stellar perturbers: 0.5, 0.8, 1, 3 and 8 M$_{Sun}$, in coplanar, prograde and retrograde orbits respect to the planetary disk, varying the pertruber-host star orbital periastron from 100 AU to 500 AU. We have made 3D modelizations with the smooth particle hydrodynamics …
Open clusters(OCs) are usually young and suitable for studying the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Hitherto, only four planets have been found with radial velocity measurements in OCs. Meanwhile, a lot of free-floating planets(FFPs) have been detected. We utilize N-body simulations to investigate the evolution and final configurations of multi-planetary systems in very young open clusters with an age <10 Myr. After an evolution of 10 Myr, 61%-72% of the planets remain bounded and more than 55% of the planetary systems will maintain their initial orbital configurations. For system…
The K2-33 planetary system hosts one transiting ~5 R_E planet orbiting the young M-type host star. The planet's mass is still unknown, with an estimated upper limit of 5.4 M_J. The extreme youth of the system (<20 Myr) gives the unprecedented opportunity to study the earliest phases of planetary evolution, at a stage when the planet is exposed to an extremely high level of high-energy radiation emitted by the host star. We perform a series of 1D hydrodynamic simulations of the planet's upper atmosphere considering a range of possible planetary masses, from 2 to 40 M_E, and equilibrium temperat…
As part of our ongoing NTT SoFI survey for variability in young free-floating planets and low mass brown dwarfs, we detect significant variability in the young, free-floating planetary mass object PSO J318.5-22, likely due to rotational modulation of inhomogeneous cloud cover. A member of the 23$\pm$3 Myr $β$ Pic moving group, PSO J318.5-22 has T$_\mathrm{eff}$ = 1160$^{+30}_{-40}$ K and a mass estimate of 8.3$\pm$0.5 M$_{Jup}$ for a 23$\pm$3 Myr age. PSO J318.5-22 is intermediate in mass between 51 Eri b and $β$ Pic b, the two known exoplanet companions in the $β$ Pic moving group. With varia…
Both simulations and observations indicate that stars form in filamentary, hierarchically clustered associations, most of which disperse into their galactic field once feedback destroys their parent clouds. However, during their early evolution in these substructured environments, stars can undergo close encounters with one another that might have significant impacts on their protoplanetary disks or young planetary systems. We perform N-body simulations of the early evolution of dissolving, substructured clusters with a wide range of properties, with the aim of quantifying the expected number …
The first confirmed interstellar interloper in our Solar System, 1I/`Oumuamua, is likely to be a minor body ejected from another star, but its brief flyby and faintness made it difficult to study. Two remarkable properties are its large (up to 2.5 mag) rotational variability and its motion relative to the Sun before encounter. The former suggests an extremely elongated shape (aspect ratio ~10) and the latter an origin from the protoplanetary disk of a young star in a nearby association. Against expectations, it is also not comet-like. 1I/`Oumuamua's variability can also be explained if it is a…
We report magnetic field measurements for Kappa1~Cet, a proxy of the young Sun when life arose on Earth. We carry out an analysis of the magnetic properties determined from spectropolarimetric observations and reconstruct its large-scale surface magnetic field to derive the magnetic environment, stellar winds and particle flux permeating the interplanetary medium around Kappa1~Cet. Our results show a closer magnetosphere and mass-loss rate of Mdot = 9.7 x 10^{-13} Msol/yr, i.e., a factor 50 times larger than the current solar wind mass-loss rate, resulting in a larger interaction via space wea…
The growth time scales of planetary embryos and their formation process are imperative for our understanding on how planetary systems form and develop. They determine the subsequent growth mechanisms during the life stages of a circumstellar disk. We quantify the timescales and spatial distribution of planetary embryos via collisional growth and fragmentation of dynamically forming 100km sized planetesimals. In our study, the formation timescales of viscous disk evolution and planetesimal formation are linked to the formation of planetary embryos in the terrestrial planet zone. We connect a on…
The growing body of observational data on extrasolar planets and protoplanetary disks has stimulated intense research on planet formation and evolution in the past few years. The extremely diverse, sometimes unexpected physical and orbital characteristics of exoplanets lead to frequent updates on the mainstream scenarios for planet formation and evolution, but also to the exploration of alternative avenues. The aim of this review is to bring together classical pictures and new ideas on the formation, orbital and internal evolutions of planets, highlighting the key role of the protoplanetary di…
Models of terrestrial planet formation predict that the final stages of planetary assembly, lasting tens of millions of years beyond the dispersal of young protoplanetary disks, are dominated by planetary collisions. It is through these giant impacts that planets like the young Earth grow to their final mass and achieve long-term stable orbital configurations. A key prediction is that these impacts produce debris. To date, the most compelling observational evidence for post-impact debris comes from the planetary system around the nearby 23 Myr-old A star HD 172555. This system shows large amou…
Radial and azimuthal features (such as disc offsets and eccentric rings) seen in high resolution images of debris discs, provide us with the unique opportunity of finding potential planetary companions which betray their presence by gravitationally sculpting such asymmetric features. The young debris disc around HD 115600, imaged recently by the Gemini Planet Imager, is such a disc with an eccentricity 0.1<e<0.2 and a projected offset from the star of 4 AU. Using our modified N-body code which incorporates radiation forces, we firstly aim to determine the orbit of a hidden planetary companion …
Cool M dwarfs outnumber sun-like G stars by ten to one in the solar neighborhood. Due to their proximity, small size, and low mass, M-dwarf stars are becoming attractive targets for exoplanet searches via almost all current search methods. But what planetary systems can form around M dwarfs? Following up on the Cool Stars~16 Splinter Session "Planet Formation Around M Dwarfs", we summarize here our knowledge of protoplanetary disks around cool stars, how they disperse, what planetary systems might form and can be detected with current and future instruments.
We extend the results of planetary formation synthesis by computing the long-term evolution of synthetic systems from the clearing of the gas disk into the dynamical evolution phase. We use the symplectic integrator SyMBA to numerically integrate the orbits of planets for 100 Ma, using populations from previous studies as initial conditions.We show that within the populations studied, mass and semi-major axis distributions experience only minor changes from post-formation evolution. We also show that, depending upon their initial distribution, planetary eccentricities can statistically increas…
CHEOPS observations of V1298 Tau: updated planetary densities and implications on the early evolution of the young system
University of Amsterdam（阿姆斯特丹大学）；Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam（阿姆斯特丹大学安顿·潘内科克天文学研究所）；Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP)（波茨坦天体物理研究所）；DESY（德国电子同步辐射实验室）；Astrobiology Center（天体生物学中心）；National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台）；The Graduate University for Advanced Studies（高级研究大学院大学）；School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Birmingham（伯明翰大学物理与天文学学院）；Lowell Observatory（洛厄尔天文台）；Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院卡弗里天体物理学与空间研究研究所）
Direct imaging in the infrared at the diffraction limit of large telescopes is a unique probe of the properties of young planetary systems. We survey 55 single class I and class II stars in Taurus in the L' filter using natural and laser guide star adaptive optics and the near-infrared camera (NIRC2) of the Keck II telescope, in order to search for planetary mass companions. We use both reference star differential imaging and kernel phase techniques, achieving typical 5-sigma contrasts of ~6 magnitudes at separations of 0.2" and ~8 magnitudes beyond 0.5". Although we do not detect any new fain…
We present the results of a direct-imaging survey for very large separation ($>$100 au), companions around 95 nearby young K5-L5 stars and brown dwarfs. They are high-likelihood candidates or confirmed members of the young ($\lessapprox$150 Myr) $β$ Pictoris and AB Doradus moving groups (ABDMG) and the TW Hya, Tucana-Horologium, Columba, Carina, and Argus associations. Images in $i'$ and $z'$ filters were obtained with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South to search for companions down to an apparent magnitude of $z'\sim$22-24 at separations $\gtrapprox$20" from the targe…
We carry out N-body simulations to examine the effects of dynamical interactions on planetary systems in young open star clusters. We explore how the planetary populations in these star clusters evolve, and how this evolution depends on the initial amount of substructure, the virial ratio, the cluster mass and density, and the initial semi-major axis of the planetary systems. The fraction of planetary systems that remains intact as a cluster member, fbps, is generally well-described by the functional form fbps=f0(1+[a/a0]^c)^-1, where (1-f0) is the fraction of stars that escapes from the clust…
Within the SONYC - Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Clusters - survey, we investigate the frequency of free-floating planetary-mass objects (planemos) in the young cluster NGC1333. Building upon our extensive previous work, we present spectra for 12 of the faintest candidates from our deep multi-band imaging, plus seven random objects in the same fields, using MOIRCS on Subaru. We confirm seven new sources as young very low mass objects (VLMOs), with Teff of 2400-3100K and mid-M to early-L spectral types. These objects add to the growing census of VLMOs in NGC1333, now totaling 58. Three con…
We performed a radial velocity (RV) monitoring of the 40 Myr old star DS Tuc A with HARPS at the ESO-3.6m to determine the planetary mass of its 8.14-days planet, first revealed by TESS. We also observed two planetary transits with HARPS and ESPRESSO at ESO-VLT, to measure the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect and characterise the planetary atmosphere. We measured the high-energy emission of the host with XMM observations to investigate models for atmospheric evaporation. We employed Gaussian Processes (GP) regression to model the high level of the stellar activity, which is more than 40 times l…
We present constraints on the presence of substellar companions to the nearby ($d\sim7.6$ pc), young ($440\pm40$ Myr) K4Ve star TW Piscis Austrini, the wide ($\sim$0.3 pc) companion to the A4V star Fomalhaut. We combined absolute astrometry from Hipparcos and Gaia with literature radial velocity measurements and dedicated high-contrast imaging observations obtained with Keck/NIRC2 to achieve sensitivity to brown dwarf and planetary-mass companions ($\gtrsim2$ M$_{\rm Jup}$) over many decades of orbital period ($\lesssim 10^3$ yr). The significant astrometric acceleration measured between the H…
The planetary mass-radius diagram is an observational result of central importance to understand planet formation. We present an updated version of our planet formation model based on the core accretion paradigm which allows to calculate planetary radii and luminosities during the entire formation and evolution of the planets. We first study with it the formation of Jupiter, and compare with previous works. Then we conduct planetary population synthesis calculations to obtain a synthetic mass-radius diagram which we compare with the observed one. Except for bloated Hot Jupiters which can be ex…
Young planets provide a window into the early stages and evolution of planetary systems. Ideal planets for such research are in coeval associations, where the parent population can precisely determine their ages. We describe a young association (MELANGE-3) in the Kepler field, which harbors two transiting planetary systems (Kepler-1928 and Kepler-970). We identify MELANGE-3 by searching for kinematic and spatial overdensities around Kepler planet hosts with high levels of lithium. To determine the age and membership of MELANGE-3, we combine new high-resolution spectra with archival light curve…
We present ALMA observations of the 2M1207 system, a young binary made of a brown dwarf with a planetary-mass companion at a projected separation of about 40 au. We detect emission from dust continuum at 0.89 mm and from the $J = 3 - 2$ rotational transition of CO from a very compact disk around the young brown dwarf. The small radius found for this brown dwarf disk may be due to truncation from the tidal interaction with the planetary-mass companion. Under the assumption of optically thin dust emission, we estimated a dust mass of 0.1 $M_{\oplus}$ for the 2M1207A disk, and a 3$σ$ upper limit …
The accretion of pebbles on planetary cores has been widely studied in recent years and is found to be a highly effective mechanism for planetary growth. While most studies assume planetary cores as an initial condition in their simulation, the question how, where and when these cores form is often neglected. We study the impact of pebble accretion during the formation phase and subsequent evolution of planetary embryos in the early stages of circumstellar disk evolution. In doing so we aim to quantify the timescales and local dependency of planetary embryo formation, based on the solid evolut…
Global models of planet formation tend to begin with an initial set of planetary embryos for the sake simplicity. While this approach gives valuable insights on the evolution of the initial embryos, the initial distribution itself is a bold assumption. Limiting oneself to an initial distribution may neglect essential physics that precedes, or follows said initial distribution. We wish to investigate the effect of dynamic planetary embryo formation on the formation of planetary systems. The presented framework begins with an initial disk of gas, dust and pebbles. The disk evolution, the formati…
(Abridged) We present the results of N-body simulations of planetary systems formation in radiatively-inefficient disc models, where positive corotation torques may counter the rapid inward migration of low mass planets driven by Lindblad torques. The aim of this work is to examine the nature of planetary systems that arise from oligarchic growth in such discs. We adapt the commonly-used Mercury-6 symplectic integrator by including simple prescriptions for planetary migration (types I and II), planetary atmospheres that enhance the probability of planetesimal accretion by protoplanets, gas acc…
Aims: Our objective is the optical and near-infrared spectroscopic characterisation of 2MASS J0249-0557 c, a recently discovered young planetary mass companion to the $β$ Pictoris member 2MASS J0249-0557. Methods: Using the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) Hemisphere Survey (VHS) and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) data, we independently identified the companion 2MASS J0249-0557 c. We obtained low-resolution optical spectroscopy of this object using the Optical System for Imaging and low-intermediate-Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy (OSIRIS) spectrograph at t…
We have conducted an angular differential imaging survey with NIRC2 at Keck in search of close-in substellar companions to a sample of seven systems with confirmed planetary-mass companions (PMCs) on wide orbits (>50 AU). These wide-separation PMCs pose significant challenges to all three possible formation mechanisms: core accretion plus scattering, disk instability, and turbulent fragmentation. We explore the possibility that these companions formed closer in and were scattered out to their present-day locations by searching for other massive bodies at smaller separations. The typical sensit…
We present the identification of two previously known young objects in the solar neighbourhood as a likely very wide binary. TYC 9486-927-1, an active, rapidly rotating early-M dwarf, and 2MASS J21265040-8140293, a low-gravity L3 dwarf previously identified as candidate members of the $\sim$45 Myr old Tucana Horologium association (TucHor). An updated proper motion measurement of the L3 secondary, and a detailed analysis of the pair's kinematics in the context of known nearby, young stars, reveals that they share common proper motion and are likely bound. New observations and analyses reveal t…
Hot super-Earths are exoplanets with masses < 10 Earth masses and orbital periods < 20 days. Around 8 hot super-Earths have been discovered in the neighborhood of solar system. In this lecture, we review the mechanisms for the formation of hot super-Earths, dynamical effects that play important roles in sculpting the architecture of the multiple planetary systems. Two example systems (HD 40307 and GJ 436) are presented to show the formation and evolution of hot super-Earths or Neptunes.
Organic haze plays a key role in many planetary processes ranging from influencing the radiation budget of an atmosphere to serving as a source of prebiotic molecules on the surface. Numerous experiments have investigated the aerosols produced by exposing mixtures of N$_{2}$/CH$_{4}$ to a variety of energy sources. However, many N$_{2}$/CH$_{4}$ atmospheres in both our solar system and extrasolar planetary systems also contain CO. We have conducted a series of atmosphere simulation experiments to investigate the effect of CO on formation and particle size of planetary haze analogues for a rang…
A young progenitor for the most common planetary systems in the Galaxy
Astrobiology Center（天体生物学中心）；National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台）；The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan（日本高级研究院）；University of California, Los Angeles（加州大学洛杉矶分校）；Flatiron Institute（平顿研究所）；Osaka University（大阪大学）；Imperial College London（伦敦帝国理工学院）；UCLA（加州大学洛杉矶分校）；Southwest Research Institute（西南研究所）；Caltech（加州理工学院）；University of Tokyo（东京大学）
We present the discovery of a planetary-mass companion to CFHTWIR-Oph 98, a low-mass brown dwarf member of the young Ophiuchus star-forming region, with a wide 200-au separation (1.46 arcsec). The companion was identified using Hubble Space Telescope images, and confirmed to share common proper motion with the primary using archival and new ground-based observations. Based on the very low probability of the components being unrelated Ophiuchus members, we conclude that Oph 98 AB forms a binary system. From our multi-band photometry, we constrain the primary to be an M9-L1 dwarf, and the faint …
Models of planetary core growth by either planetesimal or pebble accretion are traditionally disconnected from the models of dust evolution and formation of the first gravitationally-bound planetesimals. The state-of-the-art models typically start with massive planetary cores already present. We aim to study the formation and growth of planetary cores in a pressure bump, motivated by the annular structures observed in protoplanetary disks, starting with sub-micron-sized dust grains. We connect the models of dust coagulation and drift, planetesimal formation in the streaming instability, gravit…
OTS44 is one of only four free-floating planets known to have a disk. We have previously shown that it is the coolest and least massive known free-floating planet ($\sim$12 M$_{\rm Jup}$) with a substantial disk that is actively accreting. We have obtained Band 6 (233 GHz) ALMA continuum data of this very young disk-bearing object. The data shows a clear unresolved detection of the source. We obtained disk-mass estimates via empirical correlations derived for young, higher-mass, central (substellar) objects. The range of values obtained are between 0.07 and 0.63 M$_{\oplus}$ (dust masses). We …
A new theoretical hypothesis on the origin and formation of the solar and extrasolar planetary systems is summarized and briefly discussed in the light of recent detections of extrasolar planets, and studies of shock wave interaction with molecular clouds, as well as H. Alfven's work on Sun's magnetic field and its effect on the formation of the solar system (1962). We propose that all objects in a planetary system originate from a small group of dense fragments in a giant molecular cloud (GMC). The mechanism of one or more shock waves, which propagate through the protoplanetary disk during th…
Doppler planet searches revealed that many giant planets orbit close to their host star or in highly eccentric orbits. These and subsequent observations inspired new theories of planet formation that invoke gravitation interactions in multiple planet systems to explain the excitation of orbital eccentricities and even short-period giant planets. Recently, NASA's Kepler mission has identified over 300 systems with multiple transiting planet candidates, including many potentially rocky planets. Most of these systems include multiple planets with closely-spaced orbits and sizes between that of Ea…
We aim to revisit the system AB Pic which has a known companion at the exoplanet/ brown-dwarf boundary. We based this study on a rich set of observations to investigate the companion's orbit and atmosphere. We composed a spectrum of AB Pic b merging archival VLT/SINFONI K-band data, with published spectra at J and H-band (SINFONI) and Lp-band (Magellan-AO), and photometric measurements (HST and Spitzer). We modeled the spectrum with ForMoSA, based on two atmospheric models: ExoREM and BT-SETTL13. We determined the orbital properties of b fitting the astrometric measurements from NaCo (2003 and…
Gas-giant planets, such as Jupiter, Saturn and massive exoplanets, were formed via the gas accretion onto the solid cores each with a mass of roughly ten Earth masses. However, rapid radial migration due to disk-planet interaction prevents the formation of such massive cores via planetesimal accretion. Comparably rapid core growth via pebble accretion requires very massive protoplanetary disks because most pebbles fall into the central star. Although planetesimal formation, planetary migration, and gas-giant core formation have been studied with much effort, the full evolution path from dust t…
In this contribution I summarize some recent successes, and focus on remaining challenges, in understanding the formation and evolution of planetary systems in the context of the Blue Dots initiative. Because our understanding is incomplete, we cannot yet articulate a "design reference mission" engineering matrix suitable for an exploration mission where success is defined as obtaining a spectrum of a potentially habitable world around a nearby star. However, as progress accelerates, we can identify observational programs that would address fundamental scientific questions through hypothesis t…
Massive planetary cores ($\sim 10$ Earth masses) trigger rapid gas accretion to form gas giant planets \rev{such as} Jupiter and Saturn. We investigate the core growth and the possibilities for cores to reach such a critical core mass. At the late stage, planetary cores grow through collisions with small planetesimals. Collisional fragmentation of planetesimals, which is induced by gravitational interaction with planetary cores, reduces the amount of planetesimals surrounding them, and thus the final core masses. Starting from small planetesimals that the fragmentation rapidly removes, less ma…
NASA's Kepler Mission uncovered a wealth of planetary systems, many with planets on short-period orbits. These short-period systems reside around 50% of Sun-like stars and are similarly prevalent around M dwarfs. Their formation and subsequent evolution is the subject of active debate. In this paper, we simulate late-stage, in-situ planet formation across a grid of planetesimal disks with varying surface density profiles and total mass. We compare simulation results with observable characteristics of the Kepler sample. We identify mixture models with different primordial planetesimal disk prop…
We present the results of planet formation N-body simulations based on a comprehensive physical model that includes planetary mass growth through mutual embryo collisions and planetesimal/boulder accretion, viscous disc evolution, planetary migration and gas accretion onto planetary cores. The main aim of this study is to determine which set of model parameters leads to the formation of planetary systems that are similar to the compact low mass multi-planet systems that have been discovered by radial velocity surveys and the Kepler mission. We vary the initial disc mass, solids-to-gas ratio an…
Despite the revolution in our knowledge resulting from the detection of planets around mature stars, we know almost nothing about planets orbiting young stars because rapid rotation and active photospheres preclude detection by radial velocities or transits and because direct imaging has barely penetrated the requisite range of high contrast and angular resolution. Of the techniques presently under consideration for the coming decade, only space-based astrometry offers the prospect of discovering gas giants (100 to >> 300 Mearth), lower mass systems such as icy giants (10 to 100 Mearth), and e…
The diversity of planetary systems that have been discovered are revealing the plethora of possible architectures, providing insights into planet formation and evolution. They also increase our understanding of system parameters that may affect planetary habitability, and how such conditions are influenced by initial conditions. The AU~Mic system is unique among known planetary systems in that it is a nearby, young, multi-planet transiting system. Such a young and well characterized system provides an opportunity to study orbital dynamical and habitability studies for planets in the very early…
Young exoplanets are attractive targets for atmospheric characterization to explore the early phase of planetary evolution and the surrounding environment. Recent observations of the 10 Myr young Neptune-sized exoplanet K2-33b revealed that the planet's transit depth drastically decreases from the optical to near-infrared wavelengths. Thao et al. (2022) suggested that a thick planetary haze and/or stellar spots may be the cause; however, even the best-fit model only barely explains the data. Here, we propose that the peculiar transmission spectrum may indicate that K2-33b possess a circumplane…
Planetary systems appear to form contemporaneously around young stars within young star-forming regions. Within these environments, the chances of survival, as well as the long-term evolution of these systems, are influenced by factors such as dynamical interactions with other stars and photoevaporation from massive stars. These interactions can also cause young stars to be ejected from their birth regions and become runaways. We present examples of such runaway stars in the vicinity of the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) found in Gaia DR2 data that have retained their discs during the ejection pro…
We present the discovery of a co-moving planetary-mass companion ~42" (~2000 AU) from a young M3 star, GU Psc, likely member of the young AB Doradus Moving Group (ABDMG). The companion was first identified via its distinctively red i - z color (> 3.5) through a survey made with Gemini-S/GMOS. Follow-up Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/WIRCam near-infrared (NIR) imaging, Gemini-N/GNIRS NIR spectroscopy and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer photometry indicate a spectral type of T3.5+-1 and reveal signs of low gravity which we attribute to youth. Keck/Adaptive Optics NIR observations did not res…
Upon its discovery in 2006, the young L7.5 companion to the solar analog HD 203030 was found to be unusual in being $\approx$200 K cooler than older late-L dwarfs. HD 203030B offered the first clear indication that the effective temperature at the L-to-T spectral type transition depends on surface gravity: now a well-known characteristic of low-gravity ultra-cool dwarfs. An initial age analysis of the G8V primary star indicated that the system was 130--400 Myr old, and so the companion between 12--31 $M_{\rm Jup}$. Using moderate resolution near-infrared spectra of HD 203030B, we now find feat…
We have discovered that the extremely red, low-gravity L7 dwarf 2MASS J11193254-1137466 is a 0.14" (3.6 AU) binary using Keck laser guide star adaptive optics imaging. 2MASS J11193254-1137466 has previously been identified as a likely member of the TW Hydrae Association (TWA). Using our updated photometric distance and proper motion, a kinematic analysis based on the BANYAN II model gives an 82% probability of TWA membership. At TWA's 10$\pm$3 Myr age and using hot-start evolutionary models, 2MASS J11193254-1137466AB is a pair of $3.7^{+1.2}_{-0.9}$ $M_{\rm Jup}$ brown dwarfs, making it the lo…
