Can we constrain planet formation from atmospheric abundances?
Abstract
Observations of exoplanets have mostly constrained theories via occurrence rates of planetary masses, radii and their orbital distributions. However, recent observations have also started to constrain the chemical abundances in planetary atmospheres. Especially the C/H, O/H and C/O ratio in planetary atmospheres are though to constrain planet formation due to the volatility of carbon and oxygen bearing species (H2O, CO2, CH4, CO), which evaporate at different temperatures and thus at different distances in the disc. Especially the C/O ratio is thought to increase with orbital distance. However, this pictures gets complicated by dynamical process in the protoplanetary disc. In this talk, I will highlight the most important ingredients of a planet formation model and how it performs against observational constraints of exoplanetary atmospheres. Finally I will close the talk with discussing how the star is connected to planets and discs.