Simon Borgniet
Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble

Abstract
For almost 20 years now, hundred of exoplanets have been discovered, mainly coming from radial velocities (and transits). However, our knowledge of planet formation is still widely incomplete. In particular, the impact of the host star mass on the planets properties is very badly known. The aim of this thesis is to study the presence of giant planets around massive A-F stars with Doppler spectroscopy. Special attention will be brought to young A-F stars, for which a complete coverage in terms of planetary orbital period can be made thanks to direct imaging techniques. A statistical study of the planets found and/or detection limits for all periods will be realized.
Stellar activity (induced by cold spots, bright faculae and convection) is a potentially strong limitation to the detection of low mass exoplanets with indirect methods. The impact of solar activity on radial velocities has already been studied. The main goal of this thesis project is to extrapolate this knowledge to different types of stars, so as to study the influence of different stellar activity parameters and to predict the induced RV signal for these stars.

2013 February 15, 13:30

IA/U.Porto
Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (Classroom)
Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto