Eugene Chiang, U. of California, Berkeley
Relics of Planet Formation, Here and Abroad
Argonne Physics Division Colloquium - 22 Apr 2011
11:00 AM, Building 203 auditorium

The Kuiper Belt is an ensemble of icy, rocky bodies of which Pluto is merely one (and not the largest) member. Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) serve as test particles whose trajectories have recorded the history of planet formation and evolution in the outermost solar system. We recount some of this history as told through KBOs discovered to be locked in orbital resonance with Neptune. Connections are drawn between the Kuiper belt and extra-solar Kuiper-belt analogues---the so-called "debris disks." As another illustration of resonant dynamics, we study the extrasolar planet candidate recently discovered to orbit Fomalhaut.

Argonne Physics Division Colloquium Schedule