DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM | The Demographics of Exoplanets with Gravitational Microlensing Speaker: Scott Gaudi (Ohio State University, Astronomy)

Speaker: Scott Gaudi (Ohio State University, Astronomy)

I review the landscape of microlensing searches for exoplanets, beginning with an outline of the method itself, and continuing with a review of the results that have been obtained to date. Thirteen planets have been detected with microlensing; I discuss what these detections have taught us about the frequency of cold terrestrial planets, giant planets, and solar system analogs. I then speculate on the expected returns of next-generation microlensing experiments both from the ground and from space. When combined with the results from other complementary surveys such as Kepler, next generation microlensing surveys will yield a complete picture of the demographics of planetary systems throughout the Galaxy.