Item

Abstract

The majority of detected exoplanets are close-in super Earths (planets of a few Earth masses) orbiting their host star roughly inside 0.5 AU. Additionally nearly all systems of super Earths feature multiple planets within the same system, where the period ratios between adjacent planets are mostly outside of resonance. However, their formation is still mysterious. We present here new simulations that have the potential to explain the formation pathway of super Earths. We follow the growth, migration, and composition of planetary embryos of just a tiny fraction of the Earth mass to full grown planetary systems, where solid accretion is enhanced through pebble accretion. Our main findings include: a) A difference of about a factor two in pebble flux separates true terrestrial planet analogues, which are finally assembled after the gas disc dissipates, with super Earths formed completely during the gas-disc phase b) Chains of migrating super Earths pile up in resonances, which break during late instabilities, where the resulting planetary systems match very well with the Kepler observations Co-authors: A. Izidoro, A. Johansen, A. Morbidelli, S. Raymond, S. Jacobson, M. Lambrechts