Alessandro Sozzetti

INAF – Torino Astronomical Observatory

torek, 15. 4. 2008, ob 15h v F6

The present-day sample of ~ 270 extrasolar planets allows one to appreciate how close a relationship exists between characteristics and frequencies of planetary systems and the physical properties of the host stars. For example, more or less well-established trends of planetary frequency with stellar metallicity and mass have been uncovered in the recent past. For the small (but quickly growing) sample of transiting systems, additional, and somewhat tentative, connections have been made, such as that relating the inferred planetary core masses and the metal content of the hosts. In presence of small-number statistics and/or large uncertainties in the determination of both planetary and stellar properties, significant ambiguities still affect our theoretical understanding of such trends.

I will review the observational evidence for various aspects of the planet-host star connection, and then describe novel methods and experiments which can improve our knowledge of stellar and planetary parameters. I will focus in particular on the sample of transiting systems, currently the only ones amenable for a large amount of follow-up studies which can usefully inform structural and evolutionary models of extrasolar planets.