Christoph Mordasini
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

Abstract
In this talk I will present the method of planetary population synthesis. The goal of planetary population synthesis is to constrain and improve theoretical planet formation models in a statistical sense, by comparing observed statistical properties of the extrasolar planets like their mass or metallicity distribution with synthetic distributions obtained from a theoretical planet formation model. I will first present the input physics included in our model which is based on the core accretion paradigm, and then proceed to a comparison with several important observed properties of the extrasolar planets. A focus will be made on the role of metallicity. It is found that metallicity plays an important role in the subtle interplay of planetary growth and migration, leading sometime to results one could expect, but sometimes also to surprising ones.

2010 December 16, 13:30

IA/U.Porto
Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (Auditorium)
Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto