IAU Symposium 408 : Unraveling the joint lives of Stars and Exoplanets
17 - 21 August 2026
Scientific program
Preliminary program
The field is undergoing rapid changes, resulting from the of results from space missions (JWST, TESS and CHEOPS). The timing of the symposium also fits with the final preparation stages of the ESA PLATO mission and therefore time will be allocated for this specific instrument. We propose the following preliminary program.
We will subdivide the symposium in different sessions, going from stars to planets and discussing star-planet interactions. Each session will be about 1.5 day long with two one hour time slot per session allocated for open discussion. We will focus on lowmass solar-like stars (below 2 solar masses and above 0.7 solar masses) that are prime candidates for exoplanet studies.
Physical ingredients of stellar evolutionary models
Current issues in evolutionary models of solar-like stars: transport of chemicals and angular momentum, microphysical aspects of stellar models (equation of state, radiative opacities), 3D modelling of hydrodynamical processes acting in stellar interiors, stellar magnetism and its impact on the surface rotation of solar-like stars.
Observational and computational methods to infer stellar properties
Observational challenges in stellar characterization: determination of stellar chemical composition, importance of asteroseismic constraints, and impact of stellar activity on parameter determination.
Inferences of stellar mass, radii and ages with and without asteroseismic data: limitations of current methods, robustness of the inferred ages and implementation of efficient techniques for large samples.
Tidal interactions in FGK host star-planet systems
Constraints on planetary properties and orbital architectures for efficient tidal interactions; observational signatures of planetary migration and engulfment on stellar rotation and chemical composition.
Survival of planetary atmospheres to stellar magnetic activity
Impact of weakened magnetic braking and modelling of activity on the expected properties of exoplanets around solar-like stars. How do solar-like star’s magnetic properties impact the atmospheric evaporation of magnetised/unmagnetised planets. Impact of Coronal Mass Ejections and flares on exoplanetary atmospheres.
Detecting and deciphering star-planet interactions
Census of SPI phenomena observed in the Kepler/TESS era: How to distinguish between SPI induced phenomena from solar-like stars intrinsic properties.
Constraining and comparing state-of-art population synthesis models from observations: what are we missing?)
Planetary evolution
Planets at the verges of the radius valley: interior structure models and impact of atmospheric mass loss.
Theoretical modelling of exoplanetary atmospheres and structure: properties and evolution of exoplanets, atmospheric characterization and chemistry. Importance of MHD processes in exoplanetary atmospheres.
What can we expect from future and ongoing surveys (Roman, JWST, PLATO, ALMA CHEOPS, LUVOIR, ELT, Rubin Observatory)?
What critical scientific points need to be addressed to drive progress in the fields? Can we already draw a priority list from the current state of affairs?
What can be the expected impact of Machine Learning/IA developments in driving progress in analysing the current and future large datasets in both fields?
