917 research outputs found
Toward a Deterministic Model of Planetary Formation VI: Dynamical Interaction and Coagulation of Multiple Rocky Embryos and Super-Earth Systems around Solar Type Stars
Radial velocity and transit surveys indicate that solar-type stars bear
super-Earths, with mass and period up to ~ 20 M_E and a few months, are more
common than those with Jupiter-mass gas giants. In many cases, these
super-Earths are members of multiple-planet systems in which their mutual
dynamical interaction has influenced their formation and evolution. In this
paper, we modify an existing numerical population synthesis scheme to take into
account protoplanetary embryos' interaction with their evolving natal gaseous
disk, as well as their close scatterings and resonant interaction with each
other. We show that it is possible for a group of compact embryos to emerge
interior to the ice line, grow, migrate, and congregate into closely-packed
convoys which stall in the proximity of their host stars. After the disk-gas
depletion, they undergo orbit crossing, close scattering, and giant impacts to
form multiple rocky Earths or super-Earths in non-resonant orbits around ~
0.1AU with moderate eccentricities of ~0.01-0.1. We suggest that most
refractory super-Earths with period in the range of a few days to weeks may
have formed through this process. These super-Earths differ from Neptune-like
ice giants by their compact sizes and lack of a substantial gaseous envelope.Comment: 37 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Origin and Detectability of coorbital planets from radial velocity data
We analyze the possibilities of detection of hypothetical exoplanets in
coorbital motion from synthetic radial velocity (RV) signals, taking into
account different types of stable planar configurations, orbital eccentricities
and mass ratios. For each nominal solution corresponding to small-amplitude
oscillations around the periodic solution, we generate a series of synthetic RV
curves mimicking the stellar motion around the barycenter of the system. We
then fit the data sets obtained assuming three possible different orbital
architectures: (a) two planets in coorbital motion, (b) two planets in a 2/1
mean-motion resonance, and (c) a single planet. We compare the resulting
residuals and the estimated orbital parameters.
For synthetic data sets covering only a few orbital periods, we find that the
discrete radial velocity signal generated by a coorbital configuration could be
easily confused with other configurations/systems, and in many cases the best
orbital fit corresponds to either a single planet or two bodies in a 2/1
resonance. However, most of the incorrect identifications are associated to
dynamically unstable solutions.
We also compare the orbital parameters obtained with two different fitting
strategies: a simultaneous fit of two planets and a nested multi-Keplerian
model. We find that the nested models can yield incorrect orbital
configurations (sometimes close to fictitious mean-motion resonances) that are
nevertheless dynamically stable and with orbital eccentricities lower than the
correct nominal solutions.
Finally, we discuss plausible mechanisms for the formation of coorbital
configurations, by the interaction between two giant planets and an inner
cavity in the gas disk. For equal mass planets, both Lagrangian and
anti-Lagrangian configurations can be obtained from same initial condition
depending on final time of integration.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures.2012. MNRAS, 421, 35
Cassini ISS astrometry of the Saturnian satellites: Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Iapetus, and Phoebe 2004-2012
This work was mainly funded by European Community’s
Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement 263466
for the FP7-ESPaCE, and partially by UPMC-EMERGENCE (contract number
EME0911), for which R.T. and V.L. are grateful. R.T. was also supported
by the Cassini mission. In addition, this work was supported by the Science
and Technology Facilites Council (Grant No. ST/F007566/1) and C.D.M. and
N.J.C. are grateful to them for financial assistance. C.D.M. is also grateful to
the Leverhulme Trust for the award of a Research Fellowship
Quasi-fission reactions as a probe of nuclear viscosity
Fission fragment mass and angular distributions were measured from the
^{64}Ni+^{197}Au reaction at 418 MeV and 383 MeV incident energy. A detailed
data analysis was performed, using the one-body dissipation theory implemented
in the code HICOL. The effect of the window and the wall friction on the
experimental observables was investigated. Friction stronger than one-body was
also considered. The mass and angular distributions were consistent with
one-body dissipation. An evaporation code DIFHEAT coupled to HICOL was
developed in order to predict reaction time scales required to describe
available data on pre-scission neutron multiplicities. The multiplicity data
were again consistent with one-body dissipation. The cross-sections for touch,
capture and quasi-fission were also obtained.Comment: 25 pages REVTeX, 3 tables, 13 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev
Evidence of Possible Spin-Orbit Misalignment Along the Line of Sight in Transiting Exoplanet Systems
Of the 26 transiting exoplanet systems with measurements of the
Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect, eight have now been found to be significantly
spin-orbit misaligned in the plane of the sky. Unfortunately, the RM effect
only measures the angle between the orbit of a transiting exoplanet and the
spin of its host star projected in the plane of sky, leaving unconstrained the
compliment misalignment angle between the orbit of the planet and the spin of
its host star along the line of sight. I use a simple model of stellar rotation
benchmarked with observational data to statistically identify ten exoplanet
systems from a sample of 75 for which there is likely a significant degree of
misalignment along the line of sight between the orbit of the planet and the
spin of its host star. I find that HAT-P-7, HAT-P-14, HAT-P-16, HD 17156,
Kepler-5, Kepler-7, TrES-4, WASP-1, WASP-12, and WASP-14 are likely spin-orbit
misaligned along the line of sight. All ten systems have host stellar masses
M_star in the range 1.2 M_sun <= M_star <= 1.5 M_sun, and the probability of
this occurrence by chance is less than one in ten thousand. In addition, the
planets in the candidate misaligned systems are preferentially massive and
eccentric. The coupled distribution of misalignment from the RM effect and from
this anaylsis suggests that transiting exoplanets are more likely to be
spin-orbit aligned than expected given predictions for a transiting planet
population produced entirely by planet-planet scattering or Kozai cycles and
tidal friction. For that reason, there are likely two populations of close-in
exoplanet systems: a population of aligned systems and a population of
apparently misaligned systems in which the processes that lead to misalignment
or to the survival of misaligned systems operate more efficiently in systems
with massive stars and planets. (abridged)Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, and 2 tables in emulateapj format; submitted to
ApJ in original form 24 December 2009, resubmitted in response to referee
report 1 June 201
Pattern formation of reaction-diffusion system having self-determined flow in the amoeboid organism of Physarum plasmodium
The amoeboid organism, the plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum, behaves on
the basis of spatio-temporal pattern formation by local
contraction-oscillators. This biological system can be regarded as a
reaction-diffusion system which has spatial interaction by active flow of
protoplasmic sol in the cell. Paying attention to the physiological evidence
that the flow is determined by contraction pattern in the plasmodium, a
reaction-diffusion system having self-determined flow arises. Such a coupling
of reaction-diffusion-advection is a characteristic of the biological system,
and is expected to relate with control mechanism of amoeboid behaviours. Hence,
we have studied effects of the self-determined flow on pattern formation of
simple reaction-diffusion systems. By weakly nonlinear analysis near a trivial
solution, the envelope dynamics follows the complex Ginzburg-Landau type
equation just after bifurcation occurs at finite wave number. The flow term
affects the nonlinear term of the equation through the critical wave number
squared. Contrary to this, wave number isn't explicitly effective with lack of
flow or constant flow. Thus, spatial size of pattern is especially important
for regulating pattern formation in the plasmodium. On the other hand, the flow
term is negligible in the vicinity of bifurcation at infinitely small wave
number, and therefore the pattern formation by simple reaction-diffusion will
also hold. A physiological role of pattern formation as above is discussed.Comment: REVTeX, one column, 7 pages, no figur
Planetary population synthesis
In stellar astrophysics, the technique of population synthesis has been
successfully used for several decades. For planets, it is in contrast still a
young method which only became important in recent years because of the rapid
increase of the number of known extrasolar planets, and the associated growth
of statistical observational constraints. With planetary population synthesis,
the theory of planet formation and evolution can be put to the test against
these constraints. In this review of planetary population synthesis, we first
briefly list key observational constraints. Then, the work flow in the method
and its two main components are presented, namely global end-to-end models that
predict planetary system properties directly from protoplanetary disk
properties and probability distributions for these initial conditions. An
overview of various population synthesis models in the literature is given. The
sub-models for the physical processes considered in global models are
described: the evolution of the protoplanetary disk, the planets' accretion of
solids and gas, orbital migration, and N-body interactions among concurrently
growing protoplanets. Next, typical population synthesis results are
illustrated in the form of new syntheses obtained with the latest generation of
the Bern model. Planetary formation tracks, the distribution of planets in the
mass-distance and radius-distance plane, the planetary mass function, and the
distributions of planetary radii, semimajor axes, and luminosities are shown,
linked to underlying physical processes, and compared with their observational
counterparts. We finish by highlighting the most important predictions made by
population synthesis models and discuss the lessons learned from these
predictions - both those later observationally confirmed and those rejected.Comment: 47 pages, 12 figures. Invited review accepted for publication in the
'Handbook of Exoplanets', planet formation section, section editor: Ralph
Pudritz, Springer reference works, Juan Antonio Belmonte and Hans Deeg, Ed
The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets XVIII. An Earth-mass planet in the GJ 581 planetary system
The GJ 581 planetary system was already known to harbour three planets,
including two super-Earths planets which straddle its habitable zone. We report
here the detection of an additional planet -- GJ 581e -- with a minimum mass of
1.9 M_earth. With a period of 3.15 days, it is the innermost planet of the
system and has a ~5% transit probability. We also correct our previous
confusion of the orbital period of GJ 581d (the outermost planet) with a
one-year alias, thanks to an extended time span and many more measurements. The
revised period is 66.8 days, and locates the semi-major axis inside the
habitable zone of the low mass star. The dynamical stability of the 4-planet
system imposes an upper bound on the orbital plane inclination. The planets
cannot be more massive than approximately 1.6 times their minimum mass.Comment: 9 pages, A&A Accepte
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