Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Abstract: Planetary systems are shaped as much by destructive processes --- N-body instabilities, catastrophic impacts, and atmospheric loss --- as by accretionary ones. We examine the histories of violence written in: (a) the orbital architectures of super-Earths and sub-Neptunes; (b) the scattered light morphologies of debris disks; (c) chondritic meteorites; and (d) the chaotically variable light curves of disintegrating planets.