The quest for very low-mass planets

The statistical results gathered on exoplanet properties over the past decade provide strong constraints for planet-formation models. They now prove to be especially important for the new category of very low-mass solid planets recently revealed by improved radial velocities, obtained mainly with the HARPS spectrograph. We review here the emerging properties of this newly discovered population, in the light of results from state-of-the-art planet-formation models. We also discuss the limitations of the radial-velocity method and the associated optimistic perspectives for the future detection of Earth-like planets in the Habitable Zone of solar-type stars, with radial velocities alone or in complement to space photometry.