Formation of Multi-Planetary Systems in the Kepler Era

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973 exoplanets have been confirmed as of October 2013. This number increases almost every week. There are an additional 3000 objects currently listed as potential planet candidates. Counting this as anything other than a tremendous success of many dedicated surveys, the most successful one being conducted by the Kepler spacecraft, would be an understatement. With the current rate of discoveries, these numbers will have more than doubled in five years from now. Considering this huge amount of new data, it is not surprising that modelling the evolution and physical properties of planetary systems are two of the most rapidly growing areas in astrophysics. There is no lack of ideas, however, there is still no framework which can explain the majority and diversity of observed exoplanetary systems. This moment offers for the first time an opportunity to expand our knowledge by testing hypothetical formation scenarios against a rich dataset. My proposal describes how I plan to achieve this goal and address some of the most pressing questions: Why are most hot Jupiters singletons? Why do some systems produce hot Jupiters, while others form a chain of closely spaced terrestrial planets. Why are densely packed systems not locked in resonances? How does the Solar System fit into all of this? Is it special or just one of many?**This grant will allow me and my students to study the evolution of planetary systems in unprecedented detail. The Discovery Grant is the key element. It forms a platform, enabling me to leverage matching funds from other sources, attracting and supporting highly qualified students. We will build a framework to efficiently test planet formation scenarios against observational data. We will implement modules to simulate the most important physical processes that are responsible for shaping planetary systems and compare the results to observational data. To achieve this, we will make use of high performance computing and write new software that can leverage modern acceleration technologies. This entire framework will be made publicly available as open source, so that it can be used by as many researchers as possible.**The approach that we plan to use is new and superior to previous methods. We model every single observed planetary system's history individually. This allows us to look at one system at a time. Simultaneously, we are able to look at the entire population of planetary systems. Using this method, we will be able to rule out certain formation scenarios. More importantly, we will be able to identify those scenarios which are the most promising ones. Because we will make detailed predictions which are testable, it will allow observers to select targets, precisely schedule observations and directly verify/falsify planet formation theories. **Our results will, not to a small part, be highly interesting in the context of our own Solar System. They will help us answer some of the most fundamental questions we can ask: How special is the Solar System? How many systems with a similar architecture are there in the solar neighbourhood? And under what conditions can potentially habitable planets form?