Understanding exoplanet formation, structure and evolution in 2010

Abstract

In this short review, we summarize our present understanding (and non-understanding) of exoplanet formation, structure and evolution, in the light of the most recent discoveries. Recent observations of transiting massive brown dwarfs seem to remarkably confirm the predicted theoretical mass-radius relationship in this domain. This mass-radius relationship provides, in some cases, a powerful diagnostic to distinguish planets from brown dwarfs of same mass, as for instance for Hat-P-20b. If confirmed, this latter observation shows that planet formation takes place up to at least 8 Jupiter masses. Conversely, observations of brown dwarfs down to a few Jupiter masses in young, low-extinction clusters strongly suggest an overlapping mass domain between (massive) planets and (low-mass) brown dwarfs, i.e. no mass edge between these two distinct (in terms of formation mechanism) populations. At last, the large fraction of heavy material inferred for many of the transiting planets confirms the core-accretion scenario as been the dominant one for planet formation.