The mass-semimajor axis diagram for exoplanets is populated by at least three distinct planetary populations: hot Jupiters at small orbital radii, more massive Jovian planets gathered at about 1 AU, and a rapidly growing population of SuperEarths at short periods. Our work shows that low mass and rapidly migrating planetary cores get trapped at disk inhomogeneities, where strong density or thermal gradients exist (namely dead zone boundaries, ice lines, and disk heating transition regions). Planet growth and movement occur at rates dictated by planetary accretion, and the slow radial inward motion of the traps due to falling disk accretion rates during disk evolution. By combining the theory of traps in evolving disks with standard ideas about how protoplanets accrete, we develop evolutionary tracks of how planets evolve in the mass- semimajor axis diagram. Our models account for the planetary “pile-up” at 1AU, the origin of SuperEarths and hot Jupiters, and the relative scarcity of Jovian planets at large distances.

We study Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) at the coronal–prominence boundary by means of 2.5D numerical simulations in a single-fluid MHD approach including a generalized Ohm's law. The initial configuration includes a homogeneous magnetic field forming an angle with the direction in which the plasma is perturbed. For each field inclination we compare two simulations, one for the pure MHD case, and one including the ambipolar diffusion in the Ohm's law, otherwise identical. We find that the configuration containing neutral atoms is always unstable. The growth rate of the small-scale modes in the non-linear regime is larger than in the purely MHD case.

The Apodizing Phase Plate (APP) coronagraph has been used to image the exoplanet β Pictoris b and the protoplanet candidate around HD 100546, and is currently in use in surveys with NaCo at the VLT. Its success is due to its tolerance to tip-tilt pointing errors in current AO systems, which degrade the performance of nearly all other coronagraphs. Currently the sensitivity of the APP is limited by non-common path errors in the science camera systems and by its chromatic behaviour. We present the achromatized Vector APP coronagraph and address how we will measure and minimise non-common path errors with Focal Plane Wavefront Sensing algorithms.

We present a summary of the scientific objectives, payload and mission profile of the Space Weather & Ultraviolet Solar Variability Microsatellite Mission (SWUSV) proposed to CNES and ESA (small mission).

Dissimilarities in the spatial distribution of small (μm–size) and large (mm–size) dust grains at the cavity edge of transition disks have been recently pointed out and are now under debate. We obtained VLT/NACO near-IR polarimetric observations of SAO 206462 (HD 135344B). The disk around the star shows very complex structures, such as dips and spirals. We also find an inner cavity much smaller than what is inferred from sub-mm images. The interaction between disk and orbiting companion(s) may explain this discrepancy.

Next year the second generation instrument SPHERE will begin science operations at the Very Large Telecope (ESO). This instrument will be dedicated to the search for exoplanets through the direct imaging techniques, with the new generation extreme adaptive optics. In this poster, we present the performances of one of the focal instruments, the Infra-Red Dual-beam Imaging and Spectroscopy (IRDIS). All the results have been obtained with tests in laboratory, simulating the observing conditions in Paranal. We tested several configurations using the sub-system Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) in parallel and simulating long coronographic exposures on a star, calibrating instrumental ghosts, checking the performance of the adaptive optics system and reducing data with the consortium pipeline. The contrast one can reach with IRDIS is of the order of 10−6 at 0.5 arcsec separation from the central star.

We present the results of detailed study of a set of activities developed on one of three enclosed sectors of solar region during the period of February 07–13, 2012. We found the sequence of certain topological perturbations of whole coronal holes (CHs) and their surroundings associated to the eruption of nearby prominence and subsequent Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). Especially, we observe the emergence of small bright points (BPs) and the formation of dimming regions (DRs) close to the filament's channel associated with a pre–evolution of filament/prominence eruption, whereas BPs disappearance and the shrinkage of CH we found associated with the post-eruption evolution of prominence and of CME.

We have derived and tested a simple analytical model for placing limits on the transit timing variations of circumbinary exoplanets. These are generally of days in magnitude, dwarfing those found in multi-planet systems. The derived method is fast, efficient and is accurate to approximately 1% in predicting limits on the possible times of transits over a 3-year campaign.

X-ray and EUV observations of young cool stars have shown that their coronae are extremely pressured environments with temperatures and densities that are up to two orders of magnitudes larger than those observed in the solar corona. At the same time rapidly transiting absorption features in optical and UV spectra reveal the presence of large cool, prominence-type complexes that can extend several stellar radii. I will give an overview of our current understanding of coronal structures in cool stars from multi-wavelength observations, detailing their properties and apparent dependence on spectral type. I will also outline future prospects in this field, particularly from observations of stellar coronal environments at radio and sub-mm wavelengths.

The first attempt at developing a fully self-consistent code coupling dynamics and collisions to study debris discs (Kral et al. 2013) is presented. So far, these two crucial mechanisms were studied separately, with N-body and statistical collisional codes respectively, because of stringent computational constraints.

We present a new model named LIDT-DD which is able to follow over long timescales the coupled evolution of dynamics (including radiation forces) and collisions in a self-consistent way.

The magnetic configuration hosting prominences can be a large-scale helical magnetic flux rope. As a necessary step towards future prominence formation studies, we report on a stepwise approach to study flux rope formation. We start with summarizing our recent three-dimensional (3D) isothermal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation where a flux rope is formed, including gas pressure and gravity. This starts from a static corona with a linear force-free bipolar magnetic field, altered by lower boundary vortex flows around the main polarities and converging flows towards the polarity inversion. The latter flows induce magnetic reconnection and this forms successive new helical loops so that a complete flux rope grows and ascends. After stopping the driving flows, the system relaxes to a stable helical magnetic flux rope configuration embedded in an overlying arcade. Starting from this relaxed isothermal endstate, we next perform a thermodynamic MHD simulation with a chromospheric layer inserted at the bottom. As a result of a properly parametrized coronal heating, and due to radiative cooling and anisotropic thermal conduction, the system further relaxes to an equilibrium where the flux rope and the arcade develop a fully realistic thermal structure. This paves the way to future simulations for 3D prominence formation.

We present the detection of stars with infrared (IR) excesses attributed to circumstellar debris disks from the WISE All-Sky Survey at the WISE 12 and 22 μm bandpasses (W3 and W4, respectively). Excess flux at these wavelengths is significant because it traces material in the regions of terrestrial planet formation. We searched for debris disks by cross-matching Hipparcos main sequence stars with the All-Sky Data Release from WISE and seeking excess flux at W3 and W4. Our sample is confined to a volume of 75 pc around the sun, and outside the galactic plane (|b|>5°). Debris disk-bearing stars were identified as 95%-confidence outliers in 2MASS/WISE color distributions, after checking for erroneous photometry and contamination from unrelated nearby objects.

The Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST) was the top ranked large space mission of the New Worlds, New Horizons Decadal Survey, and is currently under active study by NASA. Its primary instrument will be a large-format high-resolution near-infrared imager and slitless spectrometer. A primary goal of WFIRST will be to perform a high-cadence microlensing survey of the Galactic bulge to search for low-mass exoplanets beyond the ice line. We highlight some of the expected results of the WFIRST exoplanet survey. For example, the survey will probe the abundance of Earth-mass planets from less than 1 AU outwards, including free-floating planets. In its peak sensitivity range of ~2–5 AU, WFIRST will be sensitive to planets with masses lower than Mercury, and even down to the mass of Ganymede. Overall, WFIRST is expected to detect several thousand bound planets, in addition to several thousand free-floating planets. WFIRST will complete the exoplanet census begun by Kepler, enabling an unprecedented understanding of planetary systems and their formation.

The observation of prominences with ground-based telescopes suffers from poor image quality due to atmospheric turbulence when compared with space-borne instruments which, for solar observations, are of similar apertures. To make ground-based instruments competitive, they should rely on spectropolarimetry and the measurement of prominence magnetic fields, a task which no foreseable space instrument will perform. But spectropolarimetry alone does not suffice, and we argue that future instrumentation should combine it with imaging in a large field of view and good temporal resolution. We place numbers on those requirements and give examples of instrumental accomplishments already at work today that forecast a new generation of instruments for the observation of prominences from ground-based telescopes.

The mass of erupting prominence material can be inferred from the obscuration of emission behind this mass of cool plasma thanks to the rapid cadence of SDO/AIA images in the short EUV wavelength range (Carlyle et al. 2013, these proceedings). In comparing this approach with spectral observations from Hinode/EIS, to monitor contributions from emission seen around the erupting prominence material, we have found an intriguing component of blue-shifted emission, trailing the erupting prominence, with Doppler shifts on the order of 350 km s−1 in bright lines of both He ii and Fe xii.

The presence of a cavity in a protoplanetary disk revealed by dust continuum emissions is sometimes postulated as a signpost of an embedded gas giant planet. More peculiarly, dust emissions exterior to the cavity are often observed to be asymmetric. We explore the possibility of the asymmetry as a result of the asymmetric distribution of dust in an eccentric protoplanetary disk under the secular gravitational perturbation of an embedded massive gas giant planet. We find that the surface density of the dust well coupled to the disk gas is enhanced around the apocenter of the disk. In addition, the azimuthal distributions of particles of various sizes can deviate significantly due to different coupling to the gas. Overall, the asymmetric structure exhibits a phase correlation between the gas velocity field and dust density distribution. A Doppler map for an eccentric disk is also presented based on Cycle 1 ALMA observations. Our study potentially provides a reality check as to whether an asymmetric disk gap detected at sub-mm and cm wavelengths is a signpost of a massive gas giant planet.

A comparison of changes in the structure of the global solar magnetic field and that in the prominence parameters, in solar cycles 21–23, are presented. It is proposed that the observed global magnetic field structure changes and periodicities in the mean solar magnetic field are the result of the excitation of large-scale Rossby waves. The changes in the prominence parameters are assumed to be the result of the global magnetic field structure changes, which may be triggered or modulated quasi-periodically by large-scale Rossby waves.

Observations of quiescent prominences show rising plumes, dark in chromospheric lines, that propagate from large bubbles. In this paper we present a method that may be used to determine the plasma β (ratio of gas pressure to magnetic pressure) from the rising plumes. Using the classic fluid dynamic solution for flow around a circular cylinder, the compression of the prominence material can be estimated. Application to a prominence gave an estimate of the plasma β as β=0.47−1.13 for a ratio of specific heats of γ=1.4−1.7.

With the cylindrical equal area (CEA) projection data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), we reconstructed the three-dimensional (3D) magnetic fields in the corona, using a non-linear force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolation method every 12 minutes during five days, to calculate the squashing degree factor Q in the volume. The results show that this AR has an hyperbolic flux tube (HFT) configuration, a typical topology of quadrupole, which is stable even during the two large flares (M6.6 and X2.2 class flares).