"Formation of super-Earths"

Abstract: Recent observations by the Kepler space telescope have led to the discovery of more than 4000 exoplanet candidates consisting of many systems with Earth- to Neptune-sized objects that reside well inside the orbit of Mercury, around their respective host stars. How and where these close-in planets formed is one of the major unanswered questions in planet formation. I will present new results that self-consistently treat the nebular gas accretion onto rocky cores and the subsequent evolution of gas envelopes due to cooling and photo-...

"The Magic Scale of Galaxies"

Abstract:  This talk will address the preferred mass and time for galaxy formation, in dark-matter haloes similar to that of the Milky way but when the Universe was a few Gigayears old. It is proposed that this is due to the interplay between two mechanisms, first supernova feedback that removes gas from the galaxy, and second hot gas in the deep potential well of massive haloes that suppresses cold gas supply to the galaxy, the two being effective in galaxies of lower and higher masses respectively....

* Julian B. Munoz (Harvard): "Large-Distance Lens Uncertainties and Time-Delay Measurements of H0"

* Mark Voit (MSU): “Circumgalactoseismology”

* Sivan Ginzburg (Hebrew University): "Core-powered Valley: The Radius Distribution of Small Planets" 

* Shmuel Bialy (TAU): TBD