Exoplanets
Introduction to the main topics of the class: detection methods, exoplanet populations, atmospheric characterization, formation, and habitability
Exoplanet detection methods: direct imaging and radial velocity (Doppler) methods
Exoplanet detection methods: transits / transit timing variations / Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, astrometry
Exoplanet detection methods: gravitational microlensing, projections for WFIRST
Definition of a planet, introduction to distribution of exoplanets in semi-major axis, planet mass, eccentricity
Exoplanet populations: frequency of resonant systems, misalignment from Rossiter-McLaughlin data, density / composition inferences
Notable exoplanet systems: HR 8799, TRAPPIST-1, Kepler 16b
Definition of orbital elements, Hill sphere, stability in 2 planet and richer multiple systems, resonances, chaos, Solar System stability
Exoplanet atmosphere characterization: transmission spectroscopy, atmospheric escape
Exoplanet atmosphere characterization: secondary eclipses and phase curves
Overview of the main phases of planet formation
Protoplanetary disks: vertical structure, Minimum Mass Solar Nebula
Gravitational focusing, statistical ("particle in a box") growth rates of planets due to planetesimal accretion
Regimes of planetesimal-driven growth: orderly, runaway, and oligarchic growth
Terrestrial planet formation: isolation mass, simulations of final assembly, the "small Mars" problem, the Grand Tack model
Giant planet formation (core accretion), Kozai resonance, gas disk migration, planetesimal migration, the Nice Model
Introduction to planetary habitability, astrobiology
Theoretical and empirical habitable zone, carbonate-silicate cycle
Atmospheric biomarkers, history of Earth's oxygen abundance
Prospects for the characterization of habitable exoplanet atmospheres with proposed missions
Targets for astrobiology in the Solar System: Mars, Europa, Enceladus
Circumbinary planetary systems
Response of planetary systems to stellar mass loss, polluted white dwarfs, accretion of planetary material onto white dwarfs
Evidence and status of the "Planet Nine" hypothesis in the Solar System
Based on lectures given in Spring 2020 at Stony Brook University as part of an upper division special topics undergraduate class on "Exoplanets"
Phil Armitage (philip.armitage@stonybrook.edu)