Planet formation in binaries: linking theory and observations

Although our Solar System contains only one star, half of the stars in our galaxy exist in pairs. We call these double stars "binary stars". The search of exoplanets (planets outsideour Solar System) and the study of their formation, has focused mainly on single stars like our Sun until now. Nevertheless, approximately 300 exoplanets orbiting binary stars have been detected, and the number is increasing dramatically thanks to recent technological improvements. However, a complete model to study how planets form in a binary star system does not exist yet. Studying planet formation only around single stars means neglecting half of the potential environments for planet formation. It also means missing a natural extreme environment (in terms of irradiation and gravity) against which planet formation theories could be tested. To overcome this handicap, I propose to build, with this Ambizione project, the first complete planet formation model for binaries. The model will encapsulates the main processes acting during planet formation in a binary star system. The synthetic planets emerging from this model will be compared to real exoplanets in terms of orbital architecture and composition.