Detailed bulk composition analysis of extrasolar objects accreted at the surface of white dwarf stars

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Since the Nobel prize-winning discovery of the first planet orbiting another star has been announced in 1995, thousands of exoplanets have been found. Ever since, thousands of researchers across the world have been working relentlessly to understand and characterize planets' architecture, structure and formation mechanisms. Yet, very little is known about what they are made of as basically only masses and radii are available, providing no information about their internal structures. While surface composition, through transit spectroscopy studies, can inform us about the atmosphere of gas giants, the bulk compositions of rocky objects are ill-constrained and only limits on their internal structures can be set at best. Fortunately, a new method for probing the composition of solid extrasolar planetary system material has emerged in the last decade through the examination of the accreted remains of exo-material (planetesimals, asteroids, planets) in the atmosphere of white dwarf stars. Building on my previous work, the goal of this proposal is to bring the characterization of exo-rocky material to the next level by performing a detailed homogeneous analysis of the largest sample of contaminated white dwarf atmospheres ever assembled.