Speaker: Tiger Lu, Yale UN

Host: Gongjie Li

Title: Planets are not Points: Structure Evolution and Dynamical Evolution are Intertwined

Abstract: 

The two subfields of planetary structure evolution and planetary dynamics are two rich and complex fields that have advanced in lockstep, but independently of one another. I will discuss how accounting for minor interior structure evolution of a planet can have a profound impact on its dynamics and the architecture of the resulting system. Using full N-body simulations, I present a detailed case study of the HAT-P-11 system, which is a bizarre system with two misaligned, eccentric planets. I show that a combination of planet-planet scattering and Kozai-Lidov migration is capable of reproducing the present-day configuration of the system, but ONLY if these minute structure effects are accounted for.