The Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems: The Search for and Characterization of Young Planets

TL;DR

This paper discusses the challenges and prospects of detecting and characterizing young exoplanets, emphasizing space-based astrometry's potential to complement imaging techniques for understanding planetary formation and evolution.

Contribution

It highlights the importance of space-based astrometry as a promising method for discovering and studying young planets that are difficult to detect with traditional techniques.

Findings

Astrometry can detect gas giants and icy giants around young stars.

Combining astrometry with imaging enhances understanding of planet formation.

Current techniques are limited in studying planets around stars aged 1-100 Myr.

Abstract

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 even a few rocky, super-Earths 300 Mearth) orbiting stars ranging in age from 1 to 100 Myr. Astrometry will complement high contrast imaging which should be able to detect gas giants (1~10 MJup) in orbits from a few to a few hundred AU. An astrometric survey in combination with imaging data for a subsample of objects will allow a detailed physical understanding of the formation and evolution of young gas giant planets impossible to achieve by any one technique.