Gamma Rays and Exoplanets
The topics covered by the school are:
Exoplanets:
The field of exoplanets recently marked its first three decades, a period defined by outstanding progress that transformed the research from a speculative hunt into a robust, statistical, and observational science. The number of confirmed exoplanets has surpassed 6,000, revealing an unexpected and astonishing diversity of worlds—from gas giants in short-period orbits to rocky planets that defy our classical models. This has led to comprehensive statistical studies on planetary demographics, enabled the first pioneering steps in atmospheric characterization, and driven profound advancements in theoretical modeling to explain their complex formation and evolutionary pathways. Although many foundational answers have been established, each discovery has unlocked a cascade of new, more complex inquiries.
The importance of this field is highlighted by significant investment and the sophisticated fleet of dedicated instrumentation. A network of advanced ground-based observatories, featuring high-resolution spectrographs and adaptive optics imaging systems, works in concert with powerful space-based missions—from the transit surveys of TESS to the revolutionary power of JWST. The next generation facilities, such as the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and the Ariel and PLATO missions, promise to push the boundaries of habitable world characterization even further.
Gamma rays:
For more details, please refer to:
https://indico.ict.inaf.it/event/3330/overview
