No Planet Left Behind: Investigating Planetary Diversity and Architecture with SIM Lite

TL;DR

This paper advocates for a 2000-star survey using SIM Lite to comprehensively study planetary diversity, architecture, and formation around various star types, providing unique insights into mutual inclinations and planetary systems.

Contribution

It proposes a novel survey strategy with SIM Lite to explore planetary systems across diverse star types, enhancing understanding of planet formation and architecture.

Findings

Proposes a 2000-star survey with SIM Lite.

Highlights the ability to study planets around various star types.

Shows high-precision measurements can reveal mutual inclinations.

Abstract

The evidence is mounting that star formation necessarily involves planet formation. We clearly have a vested interest in finding other Earths but a true understanding of planet formation requires completing the census and mapping planetary architecture in all its grandeur and diversity. Here, we show that a 2000-star survey undertaken with SIM Lite will uniquely probe planets around B-A-F stars, bright and binary stars and white dwarfs. In addition, we show that the high precision of SIM Lite allows us to gain unique insights into planet formation via accurate measurements of mutual inclinations.