Formation and Evolution of super-Earths and sub-Neptune Planets

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In the last 20 years, with improvement in observations, we have gone from discovering the first planet, a Jupiter-mass planet, outside the solar system, moving down in size to discovering super-Earth planets (a few masses larger than Earth), to even taking the spectrum of a sub-Neptune planet with information on its atmospheric composition. In the quest to finding an Earth analog, we are discovering the larger versions of it first, opening a new field of study. With no analog in our Solar System, super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are a new type of planet with novel characteristics for us to understand. Thanks to the growing number of discoveries, we now have enough data to study the physical processes that govern these objects. **My research program addresses fundamental questions about the composition, origin and evolution of these planets. By inferring the composition of these objects we gain information about the location and timing of formation. Our research includes studying two aspects about formation: with theoretical models we aim to understand how atmospheric evaporation has shaped the envelopes of these planets, and by modeling the end-stages of formation and tying it to chemical composition, we will quantify the compositional outcomes of solid planets. This will allow us to understand how common an Earth-like and Mercury-like compositions are for planets around other stars. **Furthermore, we know that planets evolve habitable conditions, and that Earth's thermal evolution has played a role in making it suitable for life. Super-Earths typically experience surface temperatures, heating budgets and mantle compositions that differ drastically from Earth and other solar system solid planets. Our goal is to generalize thermal evolution studies and understand mantle convection under generalized conditions appropriate for rocky/icy super-Earths. With the aim of helping future observations, we will couple mantle convection to outgassing of the atmosphere to trace out the pathways to habitability of terrestrial planets. This research program will help us understand the Earth and the Solar System planets in a broad planetary context.