Formation of Super-Earths and Mini-Neptunes from Rings of Planetesimals

This 19-minute conference talk explores the formation mechanisms of super-Earths and mini-Neptunes from rings of planetesimals, presented by Andre Izidoro from Rice University. Recorded during the "Planets on the Edge" conference at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) at UC Santa Barbara in May 2025, the presentation addresses key questions about exoplanets discovered by Kepler, TESS, and ground-based telescopes. Learn about Earth-sized planets on short-period orbits that have no direct counterparts in our Solar System, examining their nature, formation processes, atmospheric properties, and the parameters that vary between star systems. The talk contributes to the broader conference goals of synthesizing current knowledge about planets and inner disks, describing state-of-the-art formation models, fostering cross-disciplinary interactions, and charting future directions for observations, theory, and computational modeling.