How planetary systems are shaped by their birthplace

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Thousands of exoplanets, including multiple systems, have been identified in recent years. The formation of planetary systems from protoplanetary disks and planetary embryos has been well studied, in particular how the observed diversity of planetary systems is generated by processes such as planet-planet scattering, secular evolution, and interaction between planets and gas/debris disks. Almost all of this work has focused on the formation and evolution of isolated planetary systems. The birth places of many if not all stars, however, is in a star cluster or association, which may either disperse after some time or remain an open cluster. Here we will study how planetary systems are shaped and reorganized by the external dynamical effects in their nascent star cluster by encounters with other stars. Planetary orbits will undergo to lowest order eccentricity changes which in turn may trigger internal instabilities of the entire planetary system. Planets escape or merge to their host star, or can be found on orbits very close to their host star. In this project we will examine the process in two ways - theoretically by studying a wide range of star clusters with planetary systems in the computer and analyze the resulting diversity of planetary systems; and inversely by identifying observable properties of planetary systems which can give clues about the conditions under which they were formed.