Planetary systems stability

Our Solar System has a very striking architecture, with four terrestrial planets close to the Sun and four giant planets at larger separations. Current models suggest that giants planets formed from a circumstellar disk of gas and dust well before the terrestrial planets did. Accordingly, they played a key role during the formation of our planet. In fact the general architecture of the Solar System ensures the orbital, and thus climatic, stability of Earth. Understanding giant planets formation in extrasolar systems and the subsequent dynamical interactions between planets is therefore essential to determine how frequent stable terrestrial planets capable of sustaining life could be.

We will conduct a joint exploitation of the radial velocity, transit, and direct imaging data coupled to dedicated dynamical modeling of the planetary systems.