The discovery of thousands of exoplanets in our galaxy has unveiled an extraordinary diversity in planetary compositions and properties, challenging conventional theories of planet formation and evolution. These observations have spurred the development of new theoretical models that incorporate additional physical processes to bridge the gap between theory and data. Informed by recent high-precision measurements of solar system planets from space missions, and laboratory experiments on material interactions under the extreme pressures of deep planetary interiors, these models are transforming our understanding of planets.
This talk will highlight the critical role of this new knowledge in advancing models of planetary interior structure and evolution. I will discuss how it reshapes our interpretation of exoplanet data, its implications for linking planet formation processes to observed planetary properties, and the exciting prospects for the field with upcoming space missions.
BIO
Dr. Allona Vazan got her PhD from Tel-Aviv University in 2016, supervised by Prof. R. Helled, M. Podolak, and A. Kovetz. Next she moved to the University of Amsterdam, in which she was a AAA postdoctoral research fellow, working independently in collaboration with Prof. C. Dominik, Prof. C. Ormel, and Prof. J.M. Desert. Starting 2018 she was a postdoctoral researcher in a dual affiliation at the University of Zurich with Prof. R. Helled and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with Prof. R. Sari. Since 2020 she is an assistant professor at the Astrophysics Research Center (ARCO) of the Open University of Israel. Dr. Vazan is part of the scientific teams of the ARIEL and PLATO exoplanet space missions, and involved in several international collaborations (e.g., COST, NeXSS) in topics of planet formation, origin of life, and solar system planets. Her research focuses on theoretical and computational models of planetary interiors and their evolution in time - from super-Earth planets to gas giant planets.
Host: Chris Ormel
