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SUMMARY:Atmospheres and Interiors of Extrasolar Planets  - Nikku Madhusudh
 an\, Institute of Astronomy\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20131203T163000Z
DTEND:20131203T173000Z
UID:TALK46668@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:John Maclennan
DESCRIPTION:Recent advances in exoplanet observations and theoretical meth
 ods are leading to unprecedented constraints on the physicochemical proper
 ties of exoplanetary atmospheres\, interiors\, and their formation conditi
 ons. In this talk\, I will present some of the latest results in this emer
 ging frontier. I will present constraints on the atmospheric chemical comp
 ositions and temperature profiles for a variety of exoplanets based on inf
 rared observations from a wide range of facilities including HST\, Spitzer
 \, and ground-based telescopes. I will discuss how these constraints are b
 eing used to understand various equilibrium and non-equilibrium processes 
 in exoplanetary atmospheres\, to develop new classification schemes for ex
 oplanets\, and to understand the conditions of their formation and subsequ
 ent evolution. I will also present the latest constraints emerging on the 
 atmospheres\, interior structures\, and formation environments of super-Ea
 rths\, whose interior compositions span a wide gamut - from water worlds w
 ith thick volatile envelopes to super-Mercuries\, lava planets\, and carbo
 n planets - thereby testing the limits of our understanding of planetary m
 ineralogies and their equations of state under exotic astrophysical condit
 ions. The exciting future prospects for  characterizing exoplanets using c
 urrent\, upcoming\, and future observational facilities will be discussed\
 , along with several open questions of fundamental nature in the field. 
LOCATION:Harker 1 seminar room\, Department of Earth Sciences
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