Astronomy G8125
           Extrasolar Planets
                                  
                  Spring 2008


Instructor: Kristen Menou
Office: Room 1331, Pupin Hall, Department of Astronomy
Phone: 854-6899
E-mail: kristen //at\\ astro.columbia.edu
Web page: http://www.astro.columbia.edu/~kristen/teaching/G8125.html

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FIRST WEEK READING:
The instructor will be away for the first week (Jan. 22 & 24). The students are asked to read on recent Solar System discoveries and on the issue of planet definition during this first week. An in-class discussion on these topics will be organized during the Jan. 29 class. The reading for the first week is as follows

•    Section I.A (only) of Armitage's text on the Solar System: http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0701485
•    Section 1 and 2 (only) of Chiang et al. review paper on Trans-Neptunian space: http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0601654
•    The full article of Basri & Brown on Planet definition: http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0608417
•    The full article of Soter on Planet definition: http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0608359

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TIME & PLACE:
Tuesday/Thursday 2:40pm-3:55pm,
Room 1332, Pupin Hall, Department of Astronomy



DESCRIPTION:  Seminar-type Course for Astronomy Graduate Students

The fast pace of discoveries on extrasolar planets is remarkable. Many aspects of our understanding of the Solar System have been challenged by the very diverse properties of known extrasolar planetary systems. No single textbook provides an up-to-date view of the field. This class will provide graduate students with the basic knowledge necessary to follow the current research literature on extrasolar planets. This will be achieved via a combination of introductory lectures and in-class readings led by students.


MAIN TOPICS:

• Current Status and Future Prospects
  
• Detection/Measurement Methods for Extrasolar Planets
  
• Protoplanetary Disks
  
• Planet Formation
  
• Orbital Evolution
  
• Internal Structure & Evolution of Planets
  
• Habitability
  

TEXTBOOKS:

No up-to-date textbook exists.

Phil Armitage has written a clear and concise set of lecture notes on planetary systems which are relevant to this class.
See: http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0701485


PROBLEM SETS:

None. Instead, all participating students will lead article discussions (one article discussed each week).

GRADING:

- Participation during lectures (1/week) and article discussions (1/week).
- Article discussions: typically 2 or more per student. Evaluation will be based on the level of understanding of the subject covered and the clarity of the presentations.


TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

See the University academic calendar.

Rather than a weekly schedule, here is a detailed list of subjects that will be covered in class, through lectures and article discussions:

• Current detection/measurement methods
• Future detection/measurement methods
• Infrared excesses and passive protoplanetary disks
• Protoplanetary disk accretion, evolution and dispersal
• Dust and planetisimal formation
• Giant planet formation
• Terrestrial planet formation
• Gaseous migration (type I and II)
• Migration in non-gaseous disks
• Planet-planet gravitational scattering and long-term orbital evolution
• Internal structure of giant planets and brown dwarfs
• Atmospheres of giant planets and brown dwarfs
• Terrestrial planet atmospheres and habitability