Willy Benz

Title

Planet Formation and Evolution

Abstract

Since the discovery in 1995 of the first planet outside the solar system by the Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, over 350 exoplanets have now been found. While most of them are giant planets, stunning improvements in the detection techniques allows today the discovery of planets only a few times more massive than the Earth. With increasing numbers, the population of exoplanets begins to provide strong constraints to planet formation models. In this talk, I will review the recent progress in the theory of planet formation and identify where the major uncertainties remain. Guidance for future progress is provided by quantitative comparisons between theoretical predictions and actual observations.