The Pursuit of Earth 2.0 and Other Worlds with High Precision Radial Velocities

More than two decades after the first discoveries of exoplanets, the field has entered the era of finding Earth analogs as well as building samples of well-characterized exoplanets to study their formation and evolution. Precise radial velocity (RV) is taking the lead in surveying nearby bright stars for Earth analogs, while playing an important role in characterizing populations of exoplanets, such as following up transiting planets discovered by NASA’s Kepler and TESS missions. This talk focuses on the unique opportunities in detecting Earth analogs and surveying exoplanets with RVs. In particular, I will outline some of the challenges we are facing, with a focus on stellar jitter (e.g., RVxTESS.com). I will also highlight some recent works on using samples of well-characterized exoplanets to inform theories on planet formation and evolution (e.g., the Magellan TESS Survey).

Speaker: 
Xuesong Wang (Tsinghua University)
Place: 
KIAA-auditorium
Host: 
Greg
Time: 
Thursday, November 4, 2021 - 3:30PM to Thursday, November 4, 2021 - 4:30PM
Biography: 
Dr. Sharon Xuesong Wang is an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy in Tsinghua University since 2020. She received her Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University in the US and then worked as a Carnegie Fellow in Carnegie DTM (now EPL) and the Carnegie Observatories. Dr. Wang is an expert in searching and characterizing exoplanets, especially using radial velocities (RV), leading the RVxTESS survey and the Magellan TESS Survey. She is a science team member of multiple RV instruments, such as Magellan-PFS, MINERVA, WIYN-NEID, and the upcoming Keck-KPF.