Exoplanet Statistics and Theoretical Implications

Abstract

In the past few years, significant advances have been made in understanding the distributions of exoplanet populations and the architecture of planetary systems. We review the recent progress of planet statistics, with a focus on the inner ≲1-AU region of the planetary system that has been fairly thoroughly surveyed by the Kepler mission. We also discuss the theoretical implications of these statistical results for planet formation and dynamical evolution. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 59 is September 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.