Sanson Tsun Sum Poon

1st Supervisor: Professor Richard Nelson
2nd Supervisor: Dr Sijme-Jan Paardekooper

Project Title: Formation and Dynamical Evolution of Planetary Systems.
Project Description:

Our understanding of extra-solar planetary systems has undergone a revolution in recent years due to major advances in the observations of exoplanets. The planetary system architectures are found to be very diverse, consisting of closely orbiting compact multiple systems of super-Earths and terrestrial planets, widely spaced systems of giant planets, and bodies on temperate orbits at intermediate distances from their host stars. A major unsolved question is how did these planetary systems form and evolve to create the diversity that we now observe?

The focus of my project is to address this question using N-body simulation of planetary system, combined with models for the nascent protoplanetary disc and prescriptions for disc-planet interactions that drive orbital migration. The aim is to adopt initial conditions similar to those thought to exist around young stars that are in the process of forming, and to construct a synthetic population of exoplanet systems for comparison with the observations, in order to test our current theories of planetary system formation.