RESEARCH
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Constraining planet structure from stellar chemistry
Oral comunication

N. C. Santos

Abstract
The study of the chemical composition of stars that have orbiting planets provides important clues about the frequency, architecture, and composition of exoplanet systems. In particular, recent studies have pointed out that the knowledge about the chemical composition of the star, and specifically the abundances of C, O, Si, Mg, and Fe, may provide important clues about the chemical composition of the rocky orbiting planets. In this talk I will first review the status of this research. I will then use a simple stoichiometric model to predict the chemical composition of planets orbiting stars of different populations in our Galaxy. In particular, I will derive the expected distributions of their mantle-to-core mass ratios and water mass fractions. The results of this study can be used to set important constraints for the modelling of the rocky planet composition once precise masses and radii are known, as expected with PLATO.

The PLATO Mission Conference 2017: Exoplanetary systems in the PLATO era
University of Warwick, United Kingdom
2017 September

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Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia COMPETE 2020 PORTUGAL 2020 União Europeia