Simulating the Effects of Outer Giant Planets on Inner Super-Earths with In Situ Formation Models

The Kepler mission found a large number of planets between the sizes of Earth and Neptune, planets that have no Solar System analog. These planets, termed super-Earths, have a wide variety of diverse compositions and orbital properties. We seek to explore the effects on inner super-Earth formation, and thus this observed diversity of planetary properties, by adding outer giant planets into the initial phase of planet formation simulations.  These simulations begin during the end stages of the gas phase of the protoplanetary disk and continue through the post-gas phase.  We compare the final planetary properties of our simulated systems to simulations that do not include outer giant planets and to properties of observed systems from Kepler data.