Speaker: Roman Rafikov (Princeton)

Title: Metal-rich white dwarfs as signposts of planet formation

Abstract: Recent Spitzer observations have revealed presence of near-IR excesses in spectra of more than a dozen of metal-rich white dwarfs. These excesses are naturally interpreted as resulting from reprocessing stellar emission by compact, optically thick disks of dusty debris. The prevalent idea for their origin is the tidal disruption of...

Title:New Views on Extrasolar Planetary Systems from Kepler

Abstract:Kepler is a time-domain survey of unprecedented photometric precision, constantly measuring the flux from 150,000 stars for 3.5 years in search of Earth-like planets transiting them. Along the way, it is revolutionizing the study of the architecture and dynamics of systems of exoplanets. I will describe the recent successes of the transit timing method for exoplanet discovery, confirmation, and characterization. In the Kepler-11 system which has 6 transiting planets, we have solved...

Speaker: Mariska Kriek (CfA / Clay Fellow)

Title: Clay Fellowship Lecture:

Abstract: Not available

Speaker: Brenda Matthews (Herzberg Institute)

Title: Results from the Herschel DEBRIS Survey

Abstract: Debris disks are second-generation dusty disks observed around main sequence stars. They are generated by ongoing collisions between larger planetesimal bodies in the disk and indicate that the system succeeded in building large solids within the long-dispersed protoplanetary disk. Debris disks were originally detected by IRAS through their thermal emission and have also...