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The Extremes of the Exoplanet Age Distribution

Presentation #400.03 in the session Formation and Demographics II.

Published onApr 03, 2024
The Extremes of the Exoplanet Age Distribution

Exoplanet systems are expected to evolve with time as they age. This expected evolution of exoplanet systems over billion-year timescales has been extremely difficult to observe. We have shown that Galactic kinematics can provide accurate and precise age inferences for exoplanet populations and thereby uniquely constrain models of planet formation and evolution at the extremes of the exoplanet age distribution. Our latest work revealed at the population level that plausibly mean-motion resonant multiple-planet systems are at the youthful extreme of the exoplanet age distribution with ages τ ~ 1 Gyr. On the other hand, systems with an ultra-short-period (USP) planet are at the ancient extreme of the exoplanet age distribution with τ ~ 8 Gyr. The former observation implies that convergent disk-driven Type I migration often leaves newly formed planetary systems in mean-motion resonances. The latter observation suggests that USP planets tidally migrate from their locations at the end of the planet formation process to their observed locations over several billion years. Exoplanet system architecture can therefore be used as an observable age indicator to select young/old targets for atmospheric characterization or to contextualize existing atmospheric measurements in extreme, ancient exoplanet systems like 55 Cnc.

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